- Published
- 2021-02-01
- Venue
- Reviews of Modern Physics, vol. 93, no. 1
- Cited by
- 715
- Open access
- Yes, green
- DOI
- 10.1103/revmodphys.93.015002
Abstract
The rapid neutron-capture process plays a major role in the production of heavy elements from Fe to U. This review surveys the history and current understanding of $r$-process nucleosynthesis, covering new data from atomic and nuclear physics, astrophysical modeling of $r$-process sites, astronomical observations of stellar abundances, and galactic chemical evolution. It includes a timely and thorough discussion of plausible $r$-process astrophysical environments, following the first multimessenger observation of a binary neutron-star merger.