The r-Process in Black Hole Winds

Abstract

All the current r-process scenarios relevant to core-collapse supernovae are facing severe difficulties. In particular, recent core-collapse simulations with neutrino transport show no sign of a neutron-rich wind from the proto-neutron star. In this paper, we discuss nucleosynthesis of the r-process in an alternative astrophysical site, "black hole winds", which are the neutrino-driven outflow from the accretion torus around a black hole. This condition is assumed to be realized in double neutron star mergers, neutron star - black hole mergers, or hypernovae.

Comments: 6 pages, 4 figures, invited talk at OMEG10, March 2010, to be published in the proceedings of OMEG10 (AIP)