Neutrino-induced neucleosynthesis in supernova helium shells.

Abstract

We re-examine a neutrino-driven r-process mechanism in the helium shell of a core-collapse supernova. We analyze the pre-shock evolution in detail using recent stellar models. In addition we perform full hydrodynamic simulations including the effect of shock, finding that the outer helium shells can be the site for an r-process. We find that this mechanism could succeed in early stars of metallicity . 10−3 the solar value, at relatively low temperatures and neutron densities, producing A ∼ 130 and 195 abundance peaks over ∼ 50–60 s. The mechanism is extremely sensitive to the neutrino emission model and to neutrino oscillations. While this mechanism is not very sensitive to the explosion energy, mixing of the ejecta can be different for different explosion energies. We discuss the implications of an r-process that could alter interpretations of abundance data from metal-poor stars.