Impact of complex many-body correlations on electron capture in thermally excited nuclei around $^{78}$Ni

TL;DR

This paper investigates how complex many-body correlations influence electron capture rates in thermally excited nuclei around $^{78}$Ni, revealing that advanced models predict significantly higher rates than simpler approximations, impacting supernova simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a finite-temperature response theory that incorporates complex correlations, providing more accurate electron capture rates for nuclei relevant to supernova modeling.

Findings

Correlations beyond TQRPA increase electron capture rates.

Advanced models show higher rates under supernova conditions.

Results impact the understanding of stellar evolution processes.

Abstract

We link complex many-body correlations, which play a decisive role in the structural properties of atomic nuclei, to the electron capture occurring during star evolution. The recently developed finite-temperature response theory, taking into account the coupling between single-nucleon and collective degrees of freedom, is applied to spin-isospin transitions, which dominate the electron capture rates. Calculations are performed for $^{78}$Ni and for the surrounding even-even nuclei associated with a high-sensitivity region of the nuclear chart in the context of core-collapse supernova simulations. The obtained electron capture rates are compared to those of a simpler thermal quasiparticle random phase approximation (TQRPA), which is standardly used in such computations. The comparison indicates that correlations beyond TQRPA lead to significantly higher electron capture rates under the typical thermodynamical conditions.