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ABSTRACT It has been suggested that strongly magnetized and rapidly rotating protoneutron stars (PNSs) may produce long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) originating from stellar core collapse. We explore the steady-state properties and heavy element nucleosynthesis in neutrino-driven winds from such PNSs whose magnetic axis is generally misaligned with the axis of rotation. We consider a wide variety of central engine properties such as surface dipole field strength, initial rotation period, and magnetic obliquity to show that heavy element nuclei can be synthesized in the radially expanding wind. This process is facilitated provided the outflow is Poynting-flux dominated such that its low entropy and fast expansion time-scale enables heavy nuclei to form in a more efficient manner as compared to the equivalent thermal GRB outflows. We also examine the acceleration and survival of these heavy nuclei and show that they can reach sufficiently high energies ≳ 1020 eV within the same physical regions that are also responsible for powering gamma-ray emission, primarily through magnetic dissipation processes. Although these magnetized outflows generally fail to achieve the production of elements heavier than lanthanides for our explored electron fraction range 0.4–0.6, we show that they are more than capable of synthesizing nuclei near and beyond iron peak elements.
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Systematic exploration of heavy element nucleosynthesis in protomagnetar outflows
ABSTRACT We study the nucleosynthesis products in neutrino-driven winds from rapidly rotating, highly magnetized and misaligned protomagnetars using the nuclear reaction network SkyNet. We adopt a semi-analytic parametrized model for the protomagnetar and systematically study the capabilities of its neutrino-driven wind for synthesizing nuclei and eventually producing ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). We find that for neutron-rich outflows (Ye < 0.5), synthesis of heavy elements ($$\overline{A}\sim 20-65$$) is possible during the first $$\sim 10\, {\rm s}$$ of the outflow, but these nuclei are subjected to composition-altering photodisintegration during the epoch of particle acceleration at the dissipation radii. However, after the first $$\sim 10\, {\rm s}$$ of the outflow, nucleosynthesis reaches lighter elements ($$\overline{A}\sim 10-50$$) that are not subjected to subsequent photodisintegration. For proton-rich (Ye ≥ 0.5) outflows, synthesis is more limited ($$\overline{A}\sim 4-15$$). These suggest that while protomagnetars typically do not synthesize nuclei heavier than second r-process peak elements, they are intriguing sources of intermediate/heavy mass UHECRs. For all configurations, the most rapidly rotating protomagnetars are more conducive for nucleosynthesis with a weaker dependence on the magnetic field strength.
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- PAR ID:
- 10405210
- Publisher / Repository:
- Oxford University Press
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume:
- 513
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0035-8711
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 405-419
- Size(s):
- p. 405-419
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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