β decay rates of r -process waiting-point nuclei in a self-consistent approach

Beta-decay rates for spherical neutron-rich r-process waiting-point nuclei are calculated within a fully self-consistent Quasiparticle Random-Phase Approximation, formulated in the Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov canonical single-particle basis. The same Skyrme force is used everywhere in the calculation except in the proton-neutron particle-particle channel, where a finite-range force is consistently employed. In all but the heaviest nuclei, the resulting half-lives are usually shorter by factors of 2 to 5 than those of calculations that ignore the proton-neutron particle-particle interaction. The shorter half-lives alter predictions for the abundance distribution of r-process elements and for the time it takes to synthesize them. Comment: 14 pages RevTex, 10 eps figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.