The end of the beginning for the rp-process
Prof. Zach Meisel
There has been a long struggle to understand the nuclear physics of X-ray bursts on accreting neutron stars. The difficult nature of the problem is due to the sizeable nuclear reaction network and sensitive interplay between nuclear burning and the environment. In the beginning, X-ray burst modeling was data-poor and the number of high-impact measurement opportunities were many. Today the situation has changed. Opportunities still exist, but they are more subtle, requiring consideration of an expanded set of astrophysical conditions and more complex observables. I will argue that we are not at the end of rp-process nuclear physics studies, nor even the beginning of the end, but perhaps the end of the beginning.
Hosted by Prof. Couder