Nucleosynthesis of proton rich nuclei on accreting neutron stars related to type I X-ray burst Original Research Article

Using a shell flash model, we have investigated the relation between the endpoint of the rp-process and the ignition pressure. We have found a striking feature of the rp-process during the burst: nuclear fuel is almost burned out after the flash; the mass number of synthesized nuclei reaches to ∼ 100 for the typical pressure from 1023 to 1023.5 [dyn cm−2]. These results will severely constrain the model of type I X-ray bursts in reproducing the observational properties such as the shape of the light curve, the total radiated energy and the recurrence time.