Proton drip-line calculations and the<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>rp</mml:mi></mml:math>process

Abstract

One-proton and two-proton separation energies are calculated for proton-rich nuclei in the region $A=41--75.$ The method is based on Skyrme Hartree-Fock calculations of Coulomb displacement energies of mirror nuclei in combination with the experimental masses of the neutron-rich nuclei. The implications for the proton drip line and the astrophysical $\mathrm{rp}$ process are discussed. This is done within the framework of a detailed analysis of the sensitivity of $\mathrm{rp}$ process calculations in type I x-ray burst models on nuclear masses. We find that the remaining mass uncertainties, in particular for some nuclei with $N=Z,$ still lead to large uncertainties in calculations of x-ray burst light curves. Further experimental or theoretical improvements of nuclear mass data are necessary before observed x-ray burst light curves can be used to obtain quantitative constraints on ignition conditions and neutron star properties. We identify a list of nuclei for which improved mass data would be most important.