Neutrinos and Heavy Element Nucleosynthesis

TL;DR

This chapter reviews how neutrino interactions and flavor oscillations influence the synthesis of heavy elements beyond iron in explosive astrophysical events like supernovae and neutron star mergers.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the effects of neutrinos and their flavor conversions on three key heavy-element nucleosynthesis processes in astrophysical environments.

Findings

Neutrino interactions significantly impact heavy element formation.

Flavor oscillations can alter nucleosynthesis yields.

The processes are crucial in core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers.

Abstract

This chapter discusses three nucleosynthesis processes involved in producing heavy nuclei beyond the iron group that are influenced or shaped by neutrino interactions: the v process, the vp process and the r process. These processes are all related to explosive events involving compact objects, such as core-collapse supernovae and binary neutron star mergers, where an abundant amount of neutrinos are emitted. The interactions of the neutrinos with nucleons and nuclei through both charged-current and neutral-current reactions play a crucial role in the nucleosynthesis processes. During the propagation of neutrinos inside the nucleosynthesis sites, neutrinos may undergo flavor oscillations that can also potentially affect the nucleosynthesis yields. Here we provide a general overview of the possible effects of neutrinos and neutrino flavor conversions on these three heavy-element nucleosynthesis processes.