r-Process Nucleosynthesis in Magnetohydrodynamic Jet Explosions of Core-Collapse Supernovae

We investigate the r-process nucleosynthesis during a purely magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) explosion in a massive star of 13 M_solar. The two-dimensional MHD simulations have been carried out from the onset of the core collapse to the shock propagation to the silicon-rich layers (~500 ms after bounce). Thereafter, using the compositions during the explosion, we calculate the r-process nucleosynthesis in the later phase by employing the two kinds of time extrapolations of the temperature and density. With these computations, we show that the jetlike explosion formed due to the combined effects of rapid rotation and strong magnetic field lowers the electron fraction significantly in the iron core, contrary to the spherical explosion. We demonstrate that the ejected material with low Y_e in the jet coming out from the silicon layers is good for reproducing the third peak of the solar r-element pattern. In addition, we investigate the effects of fission using the full nuclear reaction network and the differences of two kinds of mass formulae on the r-process peaks obtained in the above MHD models. As a result, we find that both of them can reproduce the global abundance pattern up to the third peaks, although the detailed distributions are rather different. Finally, we discuss the effects of neutrino absorption reactions, which are not coupled to the above MHD simulations, on the possible reduction of Y_e obtained in the above computations. We point out that there should be variations in the r-process nucleosynthesis in the supernova explosion if the MHD effects play an important role.