Speaker
Description
The observation of elemental abundances in the most metal-poor stars have revealed the operation of a neutron-capture regime intermediate between the familiar slow (s) and rapid (r) process regimes. This i process can be activated when the H- and He-burning shells interact convectively, which is possible in low-metallicity conditions found in the early universe. The i process is the result of a sequence of neutron captures that involves unstable species two to six mass numbers away from the valley of stability. I will report 3D stellar hydrodynamic simulations that are now revealing the complex stellar conditions under which the i process operates, and the substantial body of work that has quantitatively established which nuclear data is most urgently needed to enable realistic modeling and interpretation of i-process observations of early universe stars. This is needed to pin down the exact location of the i process, which remains uncertain.
| email address | fherwig@uvic.ca |
|---|---|
| Please select: Experiment or Theory | Theory |
