The Sensitivity of Nucleosynthesis in Type I X-ray Bursts to Thermonuclear Reaction-Rate Variations

TL;DR

This study investigates how variations in nuclear reaction rates influence nucleosynthesis during Type I X-ray bursts, aiming to identify key reactions for experimental focus and improve understanding of these explosive phenomena.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of reaction-rate sensitivities in X-ray burst nucleosynthesis, highlighting which nuclear processes significantly impact element yields.

Findings

Identified key nuclear reactions affecting nucleosynthesis yields.

Demonstrated the importance of theoretical reaction rates due to lack of experimental data.

Provided a prioritized list of reactions for future experimental investigation.

Abstract

We examine the sensitivity of nucleosynthesis in Type I X-ray bursts to variations in nuclear rates. As a large number of nuclear processes are involved in these phenomena -with the vast majority of reaction rates only determined theoretically due to the lack of any experimental information- our results can provide a means for determining which rates play significant roles in the thermonuclear runaway. These results may then motivate new experiments. For our studies, we have performed a comprehensive series of one-zone post-processing calculations in conjunction with various representative X-ray burst thermodynamic histories. We present those reactions whose rate variations have the largest effects on yields in our studies.