Nucleosynthesis of free neutrons in hydrogen and helium in the corona of the accretion disks of the Cygnus X-2 binary system

The synthesis of free neutrons into free protons and deuterium, tritium, helium-3 and helium-4 nuclei has been studied under the coronal conditions of the Cygnus X-2 accretion disks. By studying the temporal evolution of the mass fraction abundances of neutrons and of the hydrogen and helium isotopes, it was possible to estimate the average lifetime of free neutrons, as well as the final relative distributions of protons with respect to their isotopes, and of helium-4 with respect to helium-3. Similarly, the mean, maximum and minimum values of the mass fraction abundances of each species were obtained, together with the absolute distributions for each one. Simulations were performed for 10 different temperatures, which allowed conclusions to be drawn about how temperature influences the production and consumption of the nuclei studied.