Electron-Capture on Excited States of pf-shell Nuclei in Stellar Environments

ORAL

Abstract

At stellar temperatures and densities electron-capture rates on ground and excited states of pf-shell nuclei can influence the dynamics of core-collapse and thermonuclear supernovae. For 13 pf-shell nuclei, we have completed a comparison between Gamow-Teller strength distributions and the corresponding electron-capture rates determined from measurements and those determined from shell model and QRPA calculations. Both of these measured and calculated electron-capture rates assumed that the parent nuclei were in the ground state. We now explore the effect that including excited states has on the calculated electron-capture rates and present preliminary results.

*This work is supported in part by NSF grants PHY-0822648, PHY-0606007, PHY-0758099, PHY-1102511 and by an award from Research Corporation for Science Advancement.

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Authors

  • A.L. Cole

    • Physics Department, Kalamazoo College

  • T.S. Anderson

    • Physics Department, Kalamazoo College

  • A.C. Dombos

    • Physics Department, Kalamazoo College

  • A.K. Schooley

    • Physics Department, Kalamazoo College

  • R.G.T. Zegers

    • NSCL, JINA, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University

  • Sam M. Austin

    • NSCL, JINA, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University

  • B.A. Brown

    • NSCL, JINA, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University

  • L. Valdez

    • NSCL, JINA, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University

  • S. Gupta

    • Indian Institute of Technology Ropar

  • G.W. Hitt

    • Department of Applied Mathematics and Sciences, Khalifa University of Science, Technology \& Research

  • O. Fawwaz

    • Department of Applied Mathematics and Sciences, Khalifa University of Science, Technology \& Research