Electron Capture Rates on Nuclei and Implications for Stellar Core Collapse

K. Langanke, G. Martínez-Pinedo, J. M. Sampaio, D. J. Dean, W. R. Hix, O. E. B. Messer, A. Mezzacappa, M. Liebendörfer, H.-Th. Janka, and M. Rampp

Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 241102 – Published 19 June 2003

Abstract

Supernova simulations to date have assumed that during core collapse electron captures occur dominantly on free protons, while captures on heavy nuclei are Pauli blocked and are ignored. We have calculated rates for electron capture on nuclei with mass numbers $A = 65 - 112$ for the temperatures and densities appropriate for core collapse. We find that these rates are large enough so that, in contrast to previous assumptions, electron capture on nuclei dominates over capture on free protons. This leads to significant changes in core collapse simulations.

Received 21 February 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.241102

Authors & Affiliations

K. Langanke¹, G. Martínez-Pinedo^2,3, J. M. Sampaio¹, D. J. Dean⁴, W. R. Hix^4,5,6, O. E. B. Messer^4,5,6, A. Mezzacappa⁴, M. Liebendörfer^7,4,5, H.-Th. Janka⁸, and M. Rampp⁸

¹Institute for Physics and Astronomy, University of Århus, DK-8000 Århus C, Denmark
²Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, Edifici Nexus, Gran Capità 2, E-08034 Barcelona, Spain
³Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Lluís Companys 23, E-08010 Barcelona, Spain
⁴Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
⁵Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA
⁶Joint Institute for Heavy Ion Research, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
⁷Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3H8
⁸Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, D-85741 Garching, Germany

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Vol. 90, Iss. 24 — 20 June 2003

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