Vol. 53, No. 3
September 1999
pp. 469-472

Relevance of thermally populated first excited state of ⁴⁴Ti to the abundance problem of Cassiopiea A: A model study

SUKHENDUSEKHAR SARKAR

Ananda Mohan College, 102/1, Raja Rammohan Sarani, Calcutta 700 009, India

Abstract.

We examine the possible role of electron-capture on the thermally populated first 2+ excited state of ⁴⁴Ti in hot astrophysical environments pertaining to post explosive nucleosynthesis supernova debris. We find in a simple schematic model that the astrophysical weak interaction rate for electron-capture decay of ⁴⁴ Ti can depend considerably on temperature and hence on time. We propose a time varying decay rate for the evolving supernova debris and demonstrate its consequence for the ⁴⁴ Ti mass yield of the supernova Cas A, observed through the measured 1.157 MeV g ray flux from the electron-capture decay of ⁴⁴ Ti.

Keywords. Nuclear structure; electron capture; nucleosynthesis; supernova.

PACS Nos 26.50.+x; 23.40.-s; 95.85.Pw; 27.40.+z

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