Microscopic Calculations of Weak Interaction Rates of Nuclei in Stellar Environment for A = 18 to 100

Abstract

We report here the microscopic calculation of weak interaction rates in stellar matter for 709 nuclei with A = 18 to 100 using a generalized form of proton-neutron quasiparticle RPA model with separable Gamow-Teller forces. This is the first ever extensive microscopic calculation of weak rates calculated over a wide temperature-density grid which includes 10^7 \leq T(K) \leq 30 \times 10^9 and 10 \leq \rho Y_{e} (gcm^{-3}) \leq 10^{11}, and over a larger mass range. Particle emission processes from excited states, previously ignored, are taken into account, and are found to significantly affect some $\beta$ decay rates. The calculated capture and decay rates take into consideration the latest experimental energy levels and $ft$ value compilations. Our calculation of electron capture and $\beta$-decay rates, in the $fp$-shell, show considerable differences with a recently reported shell model diagonalization approach calculation.