Recent studies suggest that binary neutron star (NS-NS) mergers robustly produce the heavy rprocess nuclei above the atomic mass number A ∼ 130 because of their ejecta consisting of almost pure neutrons (electron fraction of Y e < 0.1). However, little production of the lighter r-process nuclei (A ≈ 90-120) conflicts with the spectroscopic results of r-process-enhanced Galactic halo stars. We present, for the first time, the result of nucleosynthesis calculations based on the fully generalrelativistic simulation of a NS-NS merger with approximate neutrino transport. It is found that the bulk of the dynamical ejecta are appreciably shock-heated and neutrino-processed, resulting in a wide range of Y e (≈ 0.09-0.45). The mass-averaged abundance distribution of calculated nucleosynthesis yields is in reasonable agreement with the full-mass range (A ≈ 90-240) of the solar r-process curve. This implies, if our model is representative of such events, that the dynamical ejecta of NS-NS mergers can be the origin of the Galactic r-process nuclei. Our result also shows that the radioactive heating after ∼ 1 day from the merging, giving rise to r-process-powered transient emission, is dominated by the β-decays of several species close to stability with precisely measured half-lives. This implies that the total radioactive heating rate for such an event can be well constrained within about a factor of two if the ejected material has a solar-like r-process pattern.

Neutrino-driven wind from young hot neutron star, which is formed by supernova explosion, is the most promising candidate site for r-process nucleosynthesis. We study general relativistic effects on this wind in Schwarzschild geometry in order to look for suitable conditions for a successful r-process nucleosynthesis. It is quantitatively discussed that the general relativistic effects play a significant role in increasing entropy and decreasing dynamic time scale of the neutrino-driven wind. Exploring wide parameter region which determines the expansion dynamics of the wind, we find interesting physical conditions which lead to successful r-process nucleosynthesis. The conditions which we found realize in the neutrino-driven wind with very short dynamic time scale τ dyn ∼ 6 ms and relatively low entropy S ∼ 140. We carry out the α-process and rprocess nucleosynthesis calculation on these conditions by the use of our single network code including over 3000 isotopes, and confirm quantitatively that the second and third r-process abundance peaks are produced in the neutrino-driven wind.

We examine electron-capture supernovae (ECSNe) as sources of elements heavier than iron in the solar system and in Galactic halo stars. Nucleosynthesis calculations are performed on the basis of thermodynamic histories of mass elements from a fully self-consistent, two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic explosion model of an ECSN. We find that neutron-rich convective lumps with an electron fraction down to Y e,min = 0.40, which are absent in the one-dimensional (1D) counterpart, allow for interesting production of elements between the iron group and N = 50 nuclei (from Zn to Zr, with little Ga) in nuclear (quasi-)equilibrium. Our models yield very good agreement with the Ge, Sr, Y, and Zr abundances of r-process deficient Galactic halo stars and constrain the occurrence of ECSNe to ∼4% of all stellar core-collapse events. If tiny amounts of additional material with slightly lower Y e,min down to ∼0.30-0.35 were also ejected -which presently cannot be excluded because of the limitations of resolution and two-dimensionality of the model-, a weak r-process can yield elements beyond N = 50 up to Pd, Ag, and Cd as observed in the r-process deficient stars.