Survey of astrophysical conditions in neutrino-driven supernova ejecta nucleosynthesis

TL;DR

This survey analyzes how uncertainties in astrophysical conditions of neutrino-driven supernova ejecta affect nucleosynthesis, identifying four key abundance patterns and linking them to specific nuclear ratios.

Contribution

It introduces a steady-state model to efficiently explore a wide range of supernova conditions and maps resulting nucleosynthesis patterns to physical parameters.

Findings

Four distinct abundance patterns identified in neutron-rich ejecta

Patterns linked to neutron-to-seed and alpha-to-seed ratios at T=3 GK

Provides templates for studying nuclear physics impact on nucleosynthesis

Abstract

Core-collapse supernovae produce elements between Fe and Ag depending on the properties of the ejected matter. Despite the fast progress in supernova simulations in the last decades, there are still uncertainties in the astrophysical conditions. In this paper we investigate the impact of astrophysical uncertainties on the nucleosynthesis. Since a systematic study based on trajectories from hydrodynamic simulations is computationally very expensive, we rely on a steady-state model. By varying the mass and radius of the proto-neutron star as well as electron fraction in the steady-state model, we cover a wide range of astrophysical conditions. In our study, we find four abundance patterns which can be formed in neutron-rich neutrino-driven ejecta. This provides a unique template of trajectories that can be used to investigate the impact of nuclear physics input on the nucleosynthesis for representative astrophysical conditions. Furthermore, we link these four patterns to the neutron-to-seed and alpha-to-seed ratios at $T=3$~GK. Therefore, our results give a good overview of the potential nucleosynthesis evolution which can occur in a supernova simulation.