General Description

Nucleosynthesis is the process of creating heavier nuclei via sequences of fusion reactions of lighter nuclei. Nucleosynthesis studies strive to understand the cosmic origin of all of the nuclides, as well as the energy generation that occurs during these thermonuclear processes. We are particularly interested in understanding thermonuclear "burning" that occurs in stellar explosions such as novae, X-ray bursts, and supernovae. In the first two explosion types, the nuclear burning powers the outbursts, while in supernovae the element creation is just one part of a set of more complex and energetic processes.

Detailed Description

Some of our nucleosynthesis calculations are self-consistently coupled to hydrodynamics, and others (the majority) are carried out as separate ''post-processing'' calculations where hydrodynamic conditions are kept fixed during the thermonuclear burning.

Technical Description

This is a technical description of the research that we do here. This is a technical description of the research that we do here. This is a technical description of the research that we do here. This is a technical description of the research that we do here. This is a technical description of the research that we do here.

Publications

• "Bottlenecks and Waiting Points in Nucleosynthesis in X-ray bursts and Novae", Michael S. Smith, Tomomi Sunayama, W. Raphael Hix, Eric J. Lingerfelt, and Caroline D. Nesaraja, Proc. Int. Symp. Origin Matter Evolution Galaxies 2010, AIP Conf. Proc. 1269 (2010) 439

• "Waiting Points and Bottlenecks in Nova and X-ray burst Nucleosynthesis", Tomomi Sunayama, Michael S. Smith, Eric J. Lingerfelt, Kim Buckner, W. Raphael Hix, and Caroline D. Nesaraja, Proc. Int. Symp. Origin Matter Evolution Galaxies 2007, AIP Conf. Proc. 1016 (2008) 415

• "Thermonuclear Reaction Rate Libraries and Software Tools for Nuclear Astrophysics Research", Michael S. Smith, Richard Cyburt, Hendrik Schatz, Michael Wiescher, Karl Smith, Scot Warren, Ryan Ferguson, Eric J. Lingerfelt, Kim Buckner, and Caroline D. Nesaraja, Proc. Int. Symp. Origin Matter Evolution Galaxies 2007, AIP Conf. Proc. 1016 (2008) 466

• "Monte Carlo Simulations of Type I X-ray burst nucleosynthesis", L.F. Roberts, W.R. Hix, M.S. Smith, J.L. Fisker，Proc. of Science PoS (NIC-IX)202 (2006)

• "Impact of Nuclear Reaction Rate Uncertainties on Nova Models", W.R. Hix, M.S. Smith, A. Mezzacappa, S. Starrfield, D.L. Smith, Nucl. Phys. A718 (2003) 620

• "A New 17F(p,gamma)18Ne Reaction Rate and its Implications for Nova Nucleosynthesis", S. Parete-Koon, W.R. Hix, M.S. Smith, S. Starrfield, D.W. Bardayan, M.W. Guidry, A. Mezzacappa, Astrophys. J. 598 (2003) 1239

Presentations

• "Bottlenecks and Waiting Points in Novae and X-ray Burst Nucleosynthesis", M.S. Smith, T. Sunayama, W. Raphael Hix, E.J. Lingerfelt, K. Buchner, C.D. Nesaraja, Radioactive Nuclear Beams 8, East Lansing, MI, 2009
• "Monte Carlo Nucleosynthesis in Novae and X-ray Burst Nucleosynthesis", M.S. Smith

For More Information

The following links will let you learn more about this topic:

• Computational Infrastructure for Nuclear Astrophysics

Contacts

Michael Smith, smithms at ornl.gov