Changing the r-Process Paradigm Original Research Article

Supernovae are now known to be far from symmetric. At the very least, rotation and convective instabilities alter the spherically symmetric picture producing asymmetric explosions and leaving behind aspherical neutron stars. These asymmetries may be critical to the mechanism behind supernova explosions. Similarly, asphericities in the core just after the launch of the supernova explosion may well change the yield of r-process nucleosynthesis. Rotation and fallback are two of the major aspherical effects altering the r-process yield. They produce asymmetric winds and can increase the entropy and propogation time of the r-process material. Here review both these processes to show the role they may play in the r-process yields.