Speaker
Description
The astrophysical rapid neutron capture process (r-process) ventures far from the stable species found on Earth. Experimental facilities have made impressive inroads towards pinning down the properties of more exotic, neutron-rich nuclei, but the map of the nuclear chart is far from complete, with the r process being the case we know to have wandered furthest into uncharted territory. We will discuss statistical methods predicting masses which align nucleosynthesis predictions with Solar data, and their potential to constrain the origin of the rare-earth peak when coupled with lanthanide mass measurements. Further opportunities for addressing key science questions exist with studies of species near shell closure N=126, which controls the production of elements such as gold and platinum. Excitingly, predictions for masses in this exotic region have now been approached by ab initio nuclear theory with interesting implications for the r-process third abundance peak. This talk will also demonstrate how theoretical predictions for other r-process observables (e.g. stellar and meteorite abundances, mergers transients such as MeV gamma-rays) are sensitively tied to the nuclear mass model applied, and highlight opportunities for mass measurements to contribute to our understanding of future observations.