8th p-process workshop 2024

Beyond iron, a number of rare, neutron-deficient, stable isotopes, is made of proton-rich isotopes, the p-nuclei. They constitute a small fraction in mass of the heavy nuclear species, but a clear understanding of their production still remains a fundamental challenge for nuclear astrophysics.

The γ-process is the most established scenario for the production of the p-nuclei, through a sequence of (γ,n), (γ,p) and (γ,α) reactions on pre-existing heavy seed material in core-collapse supernovae and in thermonuclear supernovae. However, not all the heavy proton-rich isotopes are made exclusively by the γ-process. Some of them like 152Gd and 164Er can be made by neutron-capture processes. Others, like light-p nuclei, may require the contribution of neutrino winds nucleosynthesis components or the α-rich freeze-out. Neutrino spallation is expected to be relevant for the production of 138La and 180Ta. Major puzzles remain to account for the solar abundances of p-nuclei in the Mo-Ru region.  

In order to understand the production of the p-nuclei in stars, the contribution from different disciplines is needed: from nuclear physics to provide the relevant nuclear reaction rates far from the valley of stability; from stellar simulations to provide the conditions where the nucleosynthesis is taking place; from galactic chemical evolution to simulate the abundance of the p-nuclei in the Galaxy and in the Sun; and from observations of the p-nuclei in solar material, including isotopic anomalies in meteorites and presolar grains.  

The workshop will cover the above mentioned topics, more specifically:

• Nuclear physics data (theory and experiments) related to p-process nucleosynthesis
• Stellar models and nucleosynthesis
• Meteorites, presolar grains and radioactives
• Galactic chemical evolution