Speaker
Description
Core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe)--the terminal, catastrophic explosions of massive stars—are key phenomena responsible for the origin of many elements produced in stellar interiors during evolution and for multiple high-energy messengers, including electromagnetic radiation, neutrinos, and gravitational waves. Despite nearly a century of study, the CCSN explosion mechanism remains unresolved due to the difficulties of multiple physics challenges. Nucleosynthesis provides crucial diagnostics of the mechanism, in addition to addressing the cosmic origin of the elements.
In this talk, I will discuss recent nucleosynthesis studies of CCSNe, mainly from our collaboration, with a particular focus on reaction-rate uncertainties. I will present a prioritized list of reaction rates based on our Monte Carlo nucleosynthesis calculations that should be improved for astrophysical applications. I will also report on the impact of the ${}^{56}$Ni(n,p)${}^{56}$Co reaction, which is recently measured at RIBF, on neutrino-induced explosive nucleosynthesis processes and discuss implications for studies of the supernova mechanism.