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Free keywords:
meteorites; presolar grains; isotope abundance anomalies; r- process; neutron burst; gamma-rays
Abstract:
Unlike for the s-process, so far no isotope abundance anomalies of the type expected from standard r-process nucleosynthesis have been detected in meteoritic presolar grains. The possibility is explored whether observed patterns can be related to some of the recently inferred complexity of r- process abundances. Relative strengths of gamma-ray lines observed in a future supernova, such as the strength of the line expected from the decay of Os-194 relative to those from Cs-137 or Sb-125, may be used as indicators for which type of rapid neutron capture is occurring. Also useful, if observations will be possible within a few months after the explosion, will be the search for gamma rays from nuclei previously not considered because of their relative short half- lives, such as Ce-141 and Hg-203. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science BY. All rights reserved.