Background: R-process nucleosynthesis models rely, by necessity, on nuclear structure models for input. Particularly important are beta-decay half-lives of neutron rich nuclei. At present only a single systematic calculation exists that provides values for all relevant nuclei making it difficult to test the sensitivity of nucleosynthesis models to this input. Additionally, even though there are indications that their contribution may be significant, the impact of first-forbidden transitions on decay rates has not been systematically studied within a consistent model. Purpose:To provide a table of β-decay half-lives and β-delayed neutron emission probabilities, including firstforbidden transitions, calculated within a fully self-consistent microscopic theoretical framework. The results are used in an r-process nucleosynthesis calculation to asses the sensitivity of heavy element nucleosynthesis to weak interaction reaction rates.Method: We use a fully self-consistent covariant density functional theory (CDFT) framework. The ground state of all nuclei is calculated with the relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov (RHB) model, and excited states are obtained within the proton-neutron relativistic quasiparticle phase approximation (pn-RQRPA).Results: The β-decay half-lives, β-delayed neutron emission probabilities and the average number of emitted neutrons have been calculated for 5409 nuclei in the neutron-rich region of the nuclear chart. We observe a significant contribution of the first-forbidden transitions to the total decay rate in nuclei far from the valley of stability. The experimental half-lives are in general well reproduced, both for even-even, odd-A and odd-odd nuclei, in particular for short-lived nuclei. Conclusions:In certain regions of the nuclear chart, first-forbidden transitions constitute a large fraction of the total decay rate and must be taken into account consistently in modern evaluations of half-lives. Both the beta-decay half-lives, and beta-delayed neutron emission probabilities have a noticeable impact on the results of heavy element nucleosynthesis models.

Comparing observational abundance features with nucleosynthesis predictions of stellar evolution or explosion simulations, we can scrutinize two aspects: (a) the conditions in the astrophysical production site and (b) the quality of the nuclear physics input utilized. We test the abundance features of r-process nucleosynthesis calculations for the dynamical ejecta of neutron star merger simulations based on three different nuclear mass models: The Finite Range Droplet Model, the (quenched version of the) Extended Thomas Fermi Model with Strutinsky Integral, and the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov mass model. We make use of corresponding fission barrier heights and compare the impact of four different fission fragment distribution models on the final r-process abundance distribution. In particular, we explore the abundance distribution in the second r-process peak and the rare-earth sub-peak as a function of mass models and fission fragment distributions, as well as the origin of a shift in the third r-process peak position. The latter has been noticed in a number of merger nucleosynthesis predictions. We show that the shift occurs during the r-process freeze-out when neutron captures and β-decays compete and an (n,γ)-(γ,n) equilibrium is no longer maintained. During this phase neutrons originate mainly from fission of material above A = 240. We also investigate the role of β-decay half-lives from recent theoretical advances, which lead either to a smaller amount of fissioning nuclei during freeze-out or a faster (and thus earlier) release of fission neutrons, which can (partially) prevent this shift and has an impact on the second and rare-earth peak as well.

Inclusive neutrino-nucleus cross sections are calculated using a consistent relativistic mean-field theoretical framework. The weak lepton-hadron interaction is expressed in the standard currentcurrent form, the nuclear ground state is described with the relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov model, and the relevant transitions to excited nuclear states are calculated in the relativistic quasiparti-

The fully consistent relativistic proton-neutron quasiparticle random phase approximation (PN-RQRPA) is employed in the calculation of β-decay half-lives of neutron-rich nuclei in the N≈50 and N≈82 regions. A new density-dependent effective interaction, with an enhanced value of the nucleon effective mass, is used in relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov calculation of nuclear ground states and in the particle-hole channel of the PN-RQRPA. The finite range Gogny D1S interaction is employed in the T = 1 pairing channel, and the model also includes a proton-neutron particleparticle interaction. The theoretical half-lives reproduce the experimental data for the Fe, Zn, Cd, and Te isotopic chains, but overestimate the lifetimes of Ni isotopes and predict a stable 132 Sn.

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