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Paper: Can the Main Component of the s-Process in AGB Stars Constrain the 13C-Pocket Formation?
Volume: 497, Why Galaxies Care about AGB Stars III: A Closer Look in Space and Time
Page: 275
Authors: Trippella, O.; Busso, M.; Maiorca, E.; Käppeler, F.; Palmerini, S.
Abstract: The s-process main component is mainly produced in low-mass AGB stars by the 13C(α,n)16O reaction, requiring proton injection from the envelope. The 13C pocket was typically assumed to involve a small mass (≤ 10–3M) (Gallino et al. 1998), but models with rotation suggest that 14N hampers s-processing in such tiny layers. Recent spectroscopy of young open clusters, showing enhancements of s-element abundances with respect to the Sun, have indicated a more effective s-process production requiring 13C-rich layers extended in mass (≥4 ×10–3M). We speculated that mixing driven by magnetic buoyancy (as in Maiorca et al. 2012; Trippell et al. 2014, or other forced mechanisms "from the bottom to top') can form a 13C reservoir larger than assumed so far, covering most of the He-rich layers. We present new calculations (Tripella et al. 2014) aimed at understanding if the solar composition helps to constrain the 13C-pocket extension. Stellar models at a fixed metallicity, based on a large 13C reservoir, reproduce the main s-component as accurately as before and don't require any nuclear contribution from an unknown nucleosynthesis processes (LEPP). These models also avoid problems of mixing at the envelope border and meet requirements from C-star luminosities. A large production of nuclei below A=90 is expected, so that 86,87Sr may be fully synthesized by AGB stars, while 88Sr, 89Y and 94Zr are contributed more efficiently than before.
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