Interpolation of odd beta-decay rates from even-even theoretical rates for nucleosynthesis applications

Beta decay rates, particularly those furthest from stability, are an essential part of nucleosynthesis calculations for extreme, super-massive stellar events. For such nuclei, however, experimental data is sparse and theoretical models are inconsistent with one another. In this theoretical and computational project, we started with the even-even beta decay rates of Mustonen and Engel and generated eight different sets of predicted odd-even, even-odd, and odd-odd beta decay rates. Some of the data sets we generated relied on theoretical data, some on experimental data, and others a combination of the two. When possible, the predictions were optimized to be the most accurate away from stability: in the region of sparse experimental data. We then investigated the impact of the different interpolations on abundance patterns from nucleosynthesis calculations run under four different initial conditions.