The r-process nucleosynthesis during the decompression of neutronised matter

The rapid neutron-capture process, or r-process, is known to be of fundamental importance for explaining the origin of approximately half of the A>60 stable nuclei observed in nature. In recent years nuclear astrophysicists have developed more and more sophisticated r-process models, eagerly trying to add new astrophysical or nuclear physics ingredients to explain the solar system composition in a satisfactory way. We show here that the decompression of the neutron star matter may provide suitable conditions for a robust r-processing. After decompression, the inner crust material gives rise to an abundance distribution for A>130 nuclei similar to the one observed in the solar system. Similarly, the outer crust if heated at a temperature of about 8109K before decompression is made of exotic neutron-rich nuclei with a mass distribution close to the 80≤A≤130 solar one. During the decompression, the free neutrons (initially liberated by the high temperatures) are re-captured leading to a final pattern similar to the solar system distribution. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.SCOPUS: cp.p