Temperature-dependent nuclear partition functions and abundances in the stellar interior

Abstract

We calculate the temperature-dependent nuclear partition functions (TDNPFs) and nuclear abundances for 728 nuclei, assuming nuclear statistical equilibrium (NSE). The theories of stellar evolution support NSE. Discrete nuclear energy levels have been calculated microscopically, using the pn-QRPA theory, up to an excitation energy of 10 MeV in the calculation of the TDNPFs. This feature of our paper distinguishes it from previous calculations. Experimental data is also incorporated wherever available to ensure the reliability of our results. Beyond 10 MeV, we employ a simple Fermi gas model and perform integration over the nuclear level densities to approximate the TDNPFs. We calculate nuclidic abundances, using the Saha equation, as a function of three parameters: stellar density, stellar temperature and the lepton-to-baryon content of stellar matter. All these physical parameters are considered to be extremely important in the stellar interior. The results obtained in this paper show that the equilibrium configuration of nuclei remains unaltered by increasing the stellar density (only the calculated nuclear abundances increase by roughly the same order of magnitude). Increasing the stellar temperature smoothes the equilibrium configuration showing peaks at the neutron-number magic nuclei.