Statistical methods for thermonuclear reaction rates and nucleosynthesis simulations
2015
Rigorous statistical methods for estimating thermonuclear reaction rates and
nucleosynthesis are becoming increasingly established in nuclear astrophysics.
The main challenge being faced is that experimental reaction rates are highly
complex quantities derived from a multitude of different measured nuclear
parameters (e.g., astrophysical S-factors, resonance energies and strengths,
particle and γ-ray partial widths). We discuss the application of the Monte
Carlo method to two distinct, but related, questions. First, given a set of
measured nuclear parameters, how can one best estimate the resulting thermonuclear
reaction rates and associated uncertainties? Second, given a set of
appropriate reaction rates, how can one best estimate the abundances from
nucleosynthesis (i.e., reaction network) calculations? The techniques described
here provide probability density functions that can be used to derive statistically
meaningful reaction rates and final abundances for any desired coverage
probability. Examples are given for applications to s-process neutron sources,
core-collapse supernovae, classical novae, and Big Bang nucleosynthesis.
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