Professor Brad Gibson
Astrophysics at the University of Hull
People Involved
Dr Marco Pignatari
Dr Elke Roediger E.Roediger@hull.ac.uk
Reader in Astrophysics, Director of the E.A. Milne Centre for Astrophysics
Dr David Benoit D.Benoit@hull.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Molecular Physics and Astrochemistry
Dr Siri Chongchitnan
Professor Kevin Pimbblet K.Pimbblet@hull.ac.uk
Head of School of Physical and Digital Sciences; Professor
129I and 247Cm in meteorites constrain the last astrophysical source of solar r-process elements (2021)
Journal Article
Côté, B., Eichler, M., Yagüe, A., Vassh, N., Mumpower, M. R., Világos, B., Soós, B., Arcones, A., Sprouse, T. M., Surman, R., Pignatari, M., Pető, M. K., Wehmeyer, B., Rauscher, T., & Lugaro, M. (2021). 129I and 247Cm in meteorites constrain the last astrophysical source of solar r-process elements. Science, 371(6532), 945-948. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba1111The composition of the early Solar System can be inferred from meteorites. Many elements heavier than iron were formed by the rapid neutron capture process (r-process), but the astrophysical sources where this occurred remain poorly understood. We de... Read More about 129I and 247Cm in meteorites constrain the last astrophysical source of solar r-process elements.
Evaluation of the N 13 (α,p) O 16 thermonuclear reaction rate and its impact on the isotopic composition of supernova grains (2020)
Journal Article
Meyer, A., De Séréville, N., Laird, A. M., Hammache, F., Longland, R., Lawson, T., Pignatari, M., Audouin, L., Beaumel, D., Fortier, S., Kiener, J., Lefebvre-Schuhl, A., Pellegriti, M. G., Stanoiu, M., & Tatischeff, V. (2020). Evaluation of the N 13 (α,p) O 16 thermonuclear reaction rate and its impact on the isotopic composition of supernova grains. Physical Review C, 102(3), Article 035803. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.102.035803Background: It has been recently suggested that hydrogen ingestion into the helium shell of massive stars could lead to high C13 and N15 excesses when the shock of a core-collapse supernova passes through its helium shell. This prediction questions t... Read More about Evaluation of the N 13 (α,p) O 16 thermonuclear reaction rate and its impact on the isotopic composition of supernova grains.
Shell-model studies of the astrophysical rp -process reactions S 34 (p,γ) Cl 35 and Cl 34g,m (p,γ) Ar 35 (2020)
Journal Article
Richter, W. A., Brown, B. A., Longland, R., Wrede, C., Denissenkov, P., Fry, C., Herwig, F., Kurtulgil, D., Pignatari, M., & Reifarth, R. (2020). Shell-model studies of the astrophysical rp -process reactions S 34 (p,γ) Cl 35 and Cl 34g,m (p,γ) Ar 35. Physical Review C, 102(2), Article 025801. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.102.025801© 2020 American Physical Society. Background: Dust grains condensed in the outflows of presolar classical novae should have been present in the protosolar nebula. Candidates for such presolar nova grains have been found in primitive meteorites and ca... Read More about Shell-model studies of the astrophysical rp -process reactions S 34 (p,γ) Cl 35 and Cl 34g,m (p,γ) Ar 35.
Origin of Large Meteoritic SiC Stardust Grains in Metal-rich AGB Stars (2020)
Journal Article
Dell'Agli, F., D'Orazi, V., Schönb chler, M., Lugaro, M., Cseh, B., Világos, B., Karakas, A. I., Ventura, P., Dell’Agli, F., Trappitsch, R., Hampel, M., D’Orazi, V., Pereira, C. B., Tagliente, G., Szabó, G. M., Pignatari, M., Battino, U., Tattersall, A., Ek, M., Schönbächler, M., …Nittler, L. R. (2020). Origin of Large Meteoritic SiC Stardust Grains in Metal-rich AGB Stars. The Astrophysical journal, 898(2), Article 96. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab9e74Stardust grains that originated in ancient stars and supernovae are recovered from meteorites and carry the detailed composition of their astronomical sites of origin. We present evidence that the majority of large (μm-sized) meteoritic silicon carbi... Read More about Origin of Large Meteoritic SiC Stardust Grains in Metal-rich AGB Stars.
Chromium Nucleosynthesis and Silicon-Carbon Shell Mergers in Massive Stars (2020)
Journal Article
Côté, B., Jones, S., Herwig, F., & Pignatari, M. (2020). Chromium Nucleosynthesis and Silicon-Carbon Shell Mergers in Massive Stars. The Astrophysical journal, 892(1), Article 57. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab77acWe analyze the production of the element Cr in galactic chemical evolution (GCE) models using the NuGrid nucleosynthesis yields set. We show that the unusually large [Cr/Fe] abundance at [Fe/H] ≈ 0 reported by previous studies using those yields and... Read More about Chromium Nucleosynthesis and Silicon-Carbon Shell Mergers in Massive Stars.
The s process in rotating low-mass AGB stars: Nucleosynthesis calculations in models matching asteroseismic constraints (2019)
Journal Article
Den Hartogh, J. W., Hirschi, R., Lugaro, M., Doherty, C. L., Battino, U., Herwig, F., Pignatari, M., & Eggenberger, P. (2019). The s process in rotating low-mass AGB stars: Nucleosynthesis calculations in models matching asteroseismic constraints. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 629, Article A123. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201935476Aims. We investigate the s-process during the AGB phase of stellar models whose cores are enforced to rotate at rates consistent with asteroseismology observations of their progenitors and successors. Methods. We calculated new 2 M⊙ , Z = 0.01 mode... Read More about The s process in rotating low-mass AGB stars: Nucleosynthesis calculations in models matching asteroseismic constraints.
A direct measurement of the 17O(α,γ)21Ne reaction in inverse kinematics and its impact on heavy element production (2019)
Journal Article
Taggart, M. P., Akers, C., Laird, A. M., Hager, U., Ruiz, C., Hutcheon, D. A., Bentley, M. A., Brown, J. R., Buchmann, L., Chen, A. A., Chen, J., Chipps, K. A., Choplin, A., D'Auria, J. M., Davids, B., Davis, C., Diget, C. A., Erikson, L., Fallis, J., Fox, S. P., …Williams, M. (2019). A direct measurement of the 17O(α,γ)21Ne reaction in inverse kinematics and its impact on heavy element production. Physics letters. B, 798, Article 134894. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2019.134894© 2019 The Authors During the slow neutron capture process in massive stars, reactions on light elements can both produce and absorb neutrons thereby influencing the final heavy element abundances. At low metallicities, the high neutron capture rate... Read More about A direct measurement of the 17O(α,γ)21Ne reaction in inverse kinematics and its impact on heavy element production.
NuGrid stellar data set - III. Updated low-mass AGB models and s-process nucleosynthesis with metallicities Z = 0.01, Z = 0.02, and Z = 0.03 (2019)
Journal Article
Battino, U., Tattersall, A., Lederer-Woods, C., Herwig, F., Denissenkov, P., Hirschi, R., Trappitsch, R., den Hartogh, J. W., & Pignatari, M. (2019). NuGrid stellar data set - III. Updated low-mass AGB models and s-process nucleosynthesis with metallicities Z = 0.01, Z = 0.02, and Z = 0.03. Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 489(1), 1082-1098. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2158© 2019 Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. The production of the neutron-capture isotopes beyond iron that we observe today in the Solar system is the result of the combined contribution of the r-process, the s-process, and possibly the i-p... Read More about NuGrid stellar data set - III. Updated low-mass AGB models and s-process nucleosynthesis with metallicities Z = 0.01, Z = 0.02, and Z = 0.03.
Using failed supernovae to constrain the Galactic r-process element production (2019)
Journal Article
Wehmeyer, B., Wehmeyer, B., Fröhlich, C., Fröhlich, C., Côté, B., Côté, B., Pignatari, M., Pignatari, M., Thielemann, F.-K., & Thielemann, F. K. (2019). Using failed supernovae to constrain the Galactic r-process element production. Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 487(2), 1745-1753. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz1310Rapid neutron capture process (r-process) elements have been detected in a large fraction of metal-poor halo stars, with abundances relative to iron (Fe) that vary by over two orders of magnitude. This scatter is reduced to less than a factor of 3 in... Read More about Using failed supernovae to constrain the Galactic r-process element production.
Neutron star mergers might not be the only source of r-process elements in the Milky Way (2019)
Journal Article
Côté, B., Eichler, M., Arcones, A., Hansen, C. J., Simonetti, P., Frebel, A., Fryer, C. L., Pignatari, M., Reichert, M., Belczynski, K., & Matteucci, F. (2019). Neutron star mergers might not be the only source of r-process elements in the Milky Way. The Astrophysical journal, 875(2), 106. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab10dbProbing the origin of r-process elements in the universe represents a multidisciplinary challenge. We review the observational evidence that probes the properties of r-process sites, and address them using galactic chemical evolution simulations, bin... Read More about Neutron star mergers might not be the only source of r-process elements in the Milky Way.