Radiative neutron capture reaction rates for stellar nucleosynthesis

TL;DR

This paper calculates neutron capture reaction rates for specific isotopes relevant to stellar nucleosynthesis using nuclear statistical models, providing polynomial fits for easier application in astrophysical models.

Contribution

It introduces calculated reaction rates for key isotopes in stellar nucleosynthesis and provides polynomial fits to facilitate their use in astrophysical simulations.

Findings

Reaction rates for selected isotopes are computed.

Polynomial fits for reaction rates are provided.

Results support nuclear data needs in astrophysics.

Abstract

There is a high demand for nuclear data in multidisciplinary subject like nuclear astrophysics. The two areas of nuclear physics which are most clearly related to one another are stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis. The necessity for nuclear data for astrophysical applications puts experimental methods as well as reliability and predicative ability of current nuclear models to the test. Despite recent, considerable advances, there are still significant issues and mysteries. Only a few characteristics of nuclear astrophysics are covered in the current work which include $^{20}$Ne(n,$\gamma$)$^{21}$Ne, $^{52}$Fe(n,$\gamma$)$^{53}$Fe, $^{53}$Fe(n,$\gamma$)$^{54}$Fe, $^{54}$Fe(n,$\gamma$)$^{55}$Fe and $^{55}$Fe(n,$\gamma$)$^{56}$Fe reactions which are important in stellar nucleosynthesis. The reaction rates are calculated using nuclear statistical model. These rates are subsequently fitted to polynomials of temperature T$_9$ in order to facilitate calculations for stellar nucleosynthesis.