Constraints on the Nature of the s- and r-processes

Abstract

Neutron-capture (Z > 30) elements are detected in many very metal-poor halo stars, and so they must have been manufactured by some of the earliest element donors in our Galaxy's history. The bulk amounts of neutron-capture elements with respect to the iron group vary by several orders of magnitude from star to star at low metallicities. Additionally, abundance distributions among these elements are often strikingly different from that of the solar system. Some stars exhibit abundances that must have been made purely in “rapid” neutron-capture events (the r-process), some in “slow” events (the s-process), and some have hybrid mixes. Here we summarize the major observed categories of the neutron-capture abundances in metal-poor stars, and discuss their implications for early Galactic nucleosynthesis.