Joint r-Process Enrichment by Supernovae with a Metallicity Threshold and Neutron Star Mergers

Abstract: The enrichment history of $r$-process elements has been imprinted on the stellar abundances that change in accordance with increasing metallicity in galaxies. Close examination of the [Eu/Fe] feature caused by stars in nearby galaxies, including the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), shows its perplexity. The decreasing trend of the [Eu/Fe] feature is followed by a nearly constant value; this trend is generally attributed to an onset of the delayed Fe release from type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), which is the same interpretation of the [$\alpha$/Fe] feature. However, this feature appears in the LMC at [Fe/H] of approximately -0.7, which is significantly higher than that for the [alpha/Fe] case ($\approx$ -2). This result potentially indicates the presence of an overlooked property of the $r$-process site that remains unseen in the study of the Milky Way. Here, we propose that this [Eu/Fe]-knee feature is created by a fade-out of core-collapse SNe producing $r$-process elements; these elements along with neutron star mergers (NSMs) promote the $r$-process enrichment under the condition for this specific SNe such that their occurrence is limited to a low-metallicity environment. This metallicity threshold for the occurrence rate of $r$-process SNe at a subsolar is nearly identical to that for long gamma-ray bursts whose origin may be connected to fast-rotating massive stars. Moreover, we reason that the contribution of Eu from NSMs is crucial to maintain a high [Eu/Fe] at an early stage in dwarf galaxies by a balance with Fe from SNe Ia; both enrichments via NSMs and SNe Ia proceed with similar delay time distributions.