Beta decay and electron capture rates on manganese isotopes in astrophysical environments

Abstract

The isotopes of manganese in the mass range A equal to 53 to 63 are abundant in the core material of high mass stars and are believed to be of prime importance in the progression of the pre collapse phases. During these late evolutionary phases, nuclear processes associated with weak interactions, including decay and electron capture (EC) on these isotopes, significantly alter the Ye (lepton to baryon ratio) of the cores composition. The temporal change of this parameter is one of the basic elements to simulate a successful explosion. Hence, the decay and EC rates of manganese (Mn) nuclides may serve as an important input in the simulation codes of core collapse supernova. In this paper, we focus on the study of the weak decay characteristics of 55 63Mn nuclides. The strength distributions of Gamow Teller transitions in the directions of decay and EC for these isotopes were calculated employing the proton neutron quasi particle random phase approximation (pn QRPA) model. The decay half life values of Mn isotopes under terrestrial conditions were computed and compared with measured data and previous calculations. The pn QRPA estimated half lives are in good agreement with the experimental values. The and EC rates were later calculated covering a large range of stellar temperatures (001 30) 109 K and densities (10 1011) g/cm3.