Identify the dominant r-process sources across all metallicities

Identify the dominant astrophysical sources responsible for r-process enrichment across the full stellar metallicity range, distinguishing the contributions of neutron star mergers, collapsars, and rare core-collapse supernovae.

Background

Multiple channels—neutron star mergers, collapsars, and rare core-collapse supernovae—have been proposed for r-process production, with differing delay times and environmental contexts. The paper emphasizes that, despite advances, the dominant source(s) across metallicities remains unresolved, and calls for future chemical evolution modeling to include enrichment timescales to address this question.