r-process movie:

What is this about ?

The r-process is responsible for the origin of about half of the elements heavier than iron that are found in nature, including elements such as gold or uranium. Shown is the result of a model calculation for this process that might occur in a supernova explosion. Iron is bombarded with a huge flux of neutrons and a sequence of neutron captures and beta decays is then creating heavy elements.

Calculation:

Dynamical r-process calculation assuming an expansion with an initial density of 0.029e4 g/cm3, an initial temperature of 1.5 GK and an expansion timescale of 0.83 s and a neutron to seed ratio of 92. Nuclear masses are from the FRDM mass model (P. Moeller et al.)

Displayed:

Shown is the evolution of the nuclear abundances on the chart of nuclides. Each square is a nucleus - proton number is the vertical axis, neutron number the horizontal axis. The filled black squares are the stable nuclei. The colors indicate the abundance of the nucleus:

Collaboration:

H. Schatz, T. Elliot, Department of Physics and Astronomy and NSCL, Michigan State University
K. Vaughan, J.L. Galache, A. Aprahamian, M. Wiescher, Dept. of Physics, University of Notre Dame

The model code used for the calculation is from:
B.S. Meyer, Dept. of  Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University
R. Surman, Dept. of Physics, Union College