530. WE-Heraeus-Seminar:<br /> <br /> Nuclear Masses and Nucleosynthesis

530. WE-Heraeus-Seminar: Nuclear Masses and Nucleosynthesis

The focus of this seminar are exotic nuclei that participate in the nucleosynthesis. Half of the heavy elements are produced by the r-process, when nuclei rapidly capture a large number of neutrons on time scales faster than beta decay. Although the astrophysical site of the r-process has not yet been identified, the extreme conditions required suggest that core-collapse supernovae and neutron-star mergers are the best candidates. The r-process path involves nuclei far from stability for which no experimental data are available and theoretical extrapolations are still very uncertain. Nuclear masses, half lives, and reactions of exotic nuclei affect the calculated abundances that we want to compare to observations.
In this interdisciplinary seminar we want to focus on nuclear masses which are a key input for r-process calculations as they determine the energy thresholds for all relevant reactions: neutron capture, photo-dissociation, and beta decay. In recent years there was great progress in the field of nuclear masses from the experimental and theoretical perspectives. Now we face an unique moment to further combine these recent advances with modern hydrodynamical astrophysics simulations and astronomical observations.