Patel et al. 2025 found decaying MeV-range emission in the spectrum of a magnetar giant flare, which provides evidence of this nucleosynthetic process. For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this process that accounts for the majority of heavy element synthesis. This process also occurs in events like neutron star mergers when neutron capture has a shorter timescale than beta decay.
ANSWER: r-process [or rapid neutron capture process]
[10h] Description acceptable. Patel et al. predict that r-process nucleosynthesis in the magnetar giant flare produced elements in all three of these features, the last of which cannot be accessed by the weak r-process. These features are located near the A equals 82, 130, and 196 isobars.
ANSWER: abundance peaks [accept descriptions of sets of isotopes that are produced more than heavier or lighter isotopes; prompt on peaks by asking “of what quantity?”]
[10e] Most r-process elements are produced by supernovae in which these regions of stars undergo collapse. Main sequence stars fuse hydrogen in these regions.
ANSWER: stellar cores [accept core collapse]
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