Influence of neutron-capture reactions on the nucleosynthesis of strontium
The astrophysical intermediate neutron-capture process (i process) has been reinvoked in recent years to describe stellar observations that cannot be explained by the traditional nucleosynthesis processes. Despite its success, significant uncertainties still remain including the exact astrophysical conditions and site, as well as the nuclear physics input. Available i-process models strongly underproduce the abundance of strontium (Sr) compared to observational data, while successfully describing neighboring elements, like yttrium (Y) and zirconium (Zr). This discrepancy has been attributed to nuclear physics uncertainties, specifically to the unconstrained reaction rate of the neutron-capture on the isotope krypton-88. Here we present an experimental investigation of this reaction and show that our result provides a possible solution to the aforementioned Sr underproduction in i-process models. Astrophysical models underproduce the element Sr in intermediate neutron density environments (the so called i-process). The authors investigate the nuclear reactions that produce Sr and find that the new experimental reaction rates help to bridge the gap between models and observations.
Authors
- M. Wiedeking (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4983-3882)
- G. Perdikakis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8539-8737)
- Paul DeYoung
- S. Siem
- A. Spyrou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8642-8352)
- S. Lyons (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0194-261X)
- A. Palmisano-Kyle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3844-7540)
- S. Uthayakumaar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3154-0734)
- Ann-Cecilie Larsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2188-3709)
- Hannah C. Berg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2090-1255)
- Dennis Muecher
- Daniel Santiago-Gonzalez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3125-9907)
- Andrea L. Richard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8308-688X)
- Pavel Denissenkov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6120-3264)
- Gerald Owens-Fryar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6728-6494)
- Alexander C. Dombos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1431-6009)
- Falk Herwig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8087-9278)
- William W. VonSeeger
- Beau Greaves (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4446-220X)
- Guy Savard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9672-2846)
- Sean N. Liddick (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1589-891X)
- Caley M. Harris
- Mallory K. Smith
Institutions
- TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences (DE)
- University of Notre Dame (US)
- Argonne National Laboratory (US)
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US)
- Hope College (US)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- Central Michigan University (US)
- University of Cologne (DE)
- University of Oslo (NO)
- Ohio University (US)
- Astronomy Australia (AU)
- University of Tennessee at Knoxville (US)
- University of Guelph (CA)
- Michigan State University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Physics
- Published
- 2026-06-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-026-02713-5
- Primary Topic
- Nuclear physics research studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Nuclear Security Administration