From Nuclei to the Cosmos: Tracing Heavy-Element Production with the Oldest Stars

Anna Frebel

doi:10.1146/annurev-nucl-101917-021141

Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science

Volume 68, 2018

Review Article

Free

From Nuclei to the Cosmos: Tracing Heavy-Element Production with the Oldest Stars

Anna Frebel¹
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Affiliations: Department of Physics and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA; email: [email protected]
Vol. 68:237-269 (Volume publication date October 2018) https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-nucl-101917-021141
First published as a Review in Advance on July 25, 2018
Copyright © 2018 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved

Abstract

Understanding the origin of the elements has been a decades-long pursuit, with many open questions remaining. Old stars found in the Milky Way and its dwarf satellite galaxies can provide answers because they preserve clean element abundance patterns of the nucleosynthesis processes that operated some 13 billion years ago, enabling reconstruction of the chemical evolution of the elements. This review focuses on the astrophysical signatures of heavy neutron-capture elements made in the s-, i-, and r-processes found in old stars. A highlight is the recently discovered r-process galaxy Reticulum II, which was enriched by a neutron star merger. These results show that old stars in dwarf galaxies provide a novel means to constrain the astrophysical site of the r-process, ushering in much-needed progress on this major outstanding question. This nuclear astrophysics research complements the many experimental and theoretical nuclear physics efforts into heavy-element formation, and also aligns with results on the gravitational-wave signature of neutron star mergers.

Keyword(s): dwarf galaxies, early Universe, metal-poor stars, Milky Way Galaxy, nucleosynthesis, stellar chemical abundances

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From Nuclei to the Cosmos: Tracing Heavy-Element Production with the Oldest Stars

Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science 68, 237 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-nucl-101917-021141

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Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science

Volume 68, 2018

Review Article

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From Nuclei to the Cosmos: Tracing Heavy-Element Production with the Oldest Stars

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