End Point of the rp Process on Accreting Neutron Stars
Abstract
We calculate the rapid proton ( rp) capture process of hydrogen burning on the surface of an accreting neutron star with an updated reaction network that extends up to Xe, far beyond previous work. In both steady-state nuclear burning appropriate for rapidly accreting neutron stars (such as the magnetic polar caps of accreting x-ray pulsars) and unstable burning of type I x-ray bursts, we find that the rp process ends in a closed SnSbTe cycle. This prevents the synthesis of elements heavier than Te and has important consequences for x-ray burst profiles, the composition of accreting neutron stars, and potentially galactic nucleosynthesis of light p nuclei.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- April 2001
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.3471
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0102418
- Bibcode:
- 2001PhRvL..86.3471S
- Keywords:
-
- Astrophysics;
- Nuclear Theory
- E-Print:
- 6 pages, including 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett