Weak interaction rates of neutron-rich nuclei and the r-process nucleosynthesis - art. no. 035501

Weak interaction rates for very short-lived neutron-rich nuclides involved in the r process are mostly beyond the experimental reach at the present ti me. Accurate theoretical predictions demand a coherent extrapolation of dif ferent nuclear properties away from the experimentally known regions. The b eta-decay and neutrino-capture rates are estimated within the extended Thom as-Fermi plus Strutinsky integral method and the continuum quasiparticle ra ndom phase approximation. This approximation on the self-consistent calcula tion of the ground-state and beta-decay properties is described. The large- scale calculations of the beta-strength function for stable and short-lived nuclei are performed to estimate, simultaneously, the beta-decay and elect ron neutrino capture rates for nuclides of relevance to the r-process nucle osynthesis. A comparison of the results with existing experimental data, gl obal calculations, and self-consistent microscopic predictions is presented .