Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2005
While the origin of r-process nuclei remains a long-standing mystery, recent spectroscopic studies of extremely metal-poor stars in the Galactic halo strongly suggest that it is associated with core-collapse supernovae. In addition, recent comprehensive analysis of such stars implies the presence of the “weak” r-process that is responsible for only lighter nuclei with A <130. In this study, we show that the weak r-process nuclei can be produced in the neutrino winds from a typical proto-neutron star of $1.4 M_\odot$. This suggests that the significant fraction of weak r-process elements (Sr, Y, Zr, etc.) originate from typical core-collapse supernovae with the progenitor mass range of ∼ 10–$20 M_\odot$