Abstract An in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy study of the even–even nucleus92Mo has been carried out using the30Si +65Cu,18O +80Se reactions at beam energies of 120 and 99 MeV, respectively. Angular distribution from the oriented state ratio (RADO) and linear polarization (Δasym) measurements have fixed most of the tentatively assigned spin-parity of the high-energy levels. A large-scale shell-model calculation using the GWBXG interaction has been carried out to understand the configuration and structure of both positive and negative parity states up to the highest observed spin. The high-spin states primarily originate from the coupling of excited proton- and neutron-core structures in an almost stretched manner. The systematics of the energy required to form a neutron particle-hole pair excitation,νg9/2→νd5/2, is discussed. The lifetimes of a few high-spin states have been measured using the Doppler shift attenuation method. Additionally, a qualitative argument is proposed to explain the comparatively strong E1 transition feeding the 7310.9 keV level.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on August 22, 2026
63 Fe– 63 Mn: A Possible Strong Urca Pair and Its Potential Astrophysical Impact
Abstract The cooling strength of the Urca pair,63Fe–63Mn, exhibits an extensive range of variation due to the uncertainty in the spin parity of the ground state of63Fe. To investigate the cooling effect of this Urca pair on the thermal evolution of neutron star crusts, we performed simulations on neutron star structure and evolution under various spin-parity assignment scenarios. When adopting recently evaluated nuclear data,63Fe–63Mn emerges as one of the strongest Urca pairs. In the case of MAXI J0556-332,63Fe–63Mn is the only pair above the shallow heating layer, significantly impacting the cooling curve and the superburst ignition. Moreover, the constraint on the past nucleosynthesis reduced to one-quarter of its original value, falling within three decades, which enables the validation of nuclear reaction theories in the outer layers of neutron stars. Our results highlight the need for more precise measurements of theβ−decay of63Mn to better determine the Urca cooling effect of the63Fe–63Mn pair in accreted neutron star crusts.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1927130
- PAR ID:
- 10649164
- Publisher / Repository:
- IOP
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Volume:
- 990
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0004-637X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 13
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract When white dwarfs freeze, the plasma mixtures inside them undergo separation processes that can produce radical changes in the composition profile of the star. The abundance of neutron-rich elements, such as22Ne or56Fe, determines whether or not the first crystals are more or less dense than the surrounding fluid and thus whether they sink or float. These processes have now been studied for C–O–Ne and C–O–Fe mixtures, finding that distillation and precipitation processes are possible in white dwarfs. In this work, we calculate the phase diagram of more complicated O–Ne–Fe mixtures and make predictions for the internal structure of the separated white dwarf. There are two possible outcomes determined by a complicated interplay between the Ne abundance, the22Ne fraction, and the56Fe abundance. Either Fe distills to form an inner core because the first O–Ne solids are buoyant, or an O–Ne inner core forms and Fe accumulates in the liquid until Fe distillation begins and forms an Fe shell. In the case of an Fe shell, a Rayleigh–Taylor instability may arise and overturn the core. In either case, Fe distillation may only produce a cooling delay of order 0.1 Gyr, as these processes occur early at high white dwarf luminosities. Fe inner cores and shells may be detectable through asteroseismology and could enhance the yield of neutron-rich elements such as55Mn and58Ni in supernovae.more » « less
-
Liu, W.; Wang, Y.; Guo, B.; Tang, X.; Zeng, S. (Ed.)We study the v\bar v\-pair emission from electrons and protons in a relativistic quantum approach. In this work we calculate the luminosity of the v\bar v\-pairs emitted from neutron-star-matter with a strong magnetic field, and find that this luminosity is much larger than that in the modified Urca process. The v\bar v\-pair emission processes in strong magnetic fields significantly contribute to the cooling of the magnetars.more » « less
-
Abstract The observation of X-rays during quiescence from transiently accreting neutron stars provides unique clues about the nature of dense matter. This, however, requires extensive modeling of the crusts and matching the results to observations. The pycnonuclear fusion reaction rates implemented in these models are theoretically calculated by extending phenomenological expressions and have large uncertainties spanning many orders of magnitude. We present the first sensitivity studies of these pycnonuclear fusion reactions in realistic network calculations. We also couple the reaction network with the thermal evolution codedStarto further study their impact on the neutron star cooling curves in quiescence. Varying the pycnonuclear fusion reaction rates alters the depth at which nuclear heat is deposited although the total heating remains constant. The enhancement of the pycnonuclear fusion reaction rates leads to an overall shallower deposition of nuclear heat. The impurity factors are also altered depending on the type of ashes deposited on the crust. These total changes correspond to a variation of up to 9 eV in the modeled cooling curves. While this is not sufficient to explain the shallow heat source, it is comparable to the observational uncertainties and can still be important for modeling the neutron star crust.more » « less
-
ABSTRACT We run a three‐dimensional Galactic chemical evolution (GCE) model to follow the propagation of53Mn (exclusively produced from type Ia supernovae, SNIa),60Fe (exclusively produced from core‐collapse supernovae, CCSNe),182Hf (exclusively produced from intermediate mass stars, IMSs), and244Pu (exclusively produced from neutron star mergers, NSMs). By comparing the predictions from our three‐dimensional GCE model to recent detections of53Mn,60Fe, and244Pu on the deep‐sea floor, we draw conclusions about their propagation in the interstellar medium.more » « less
An official website of the United States government
