Correlations among neutron capture rates and impact on the weak r-process

About half the elements in the universe heavier than Iron were synthesized via r-process nucleosynthesis, i.e. when nuclei capture several free neutrons ((n,gamma) reaction) successively and emit photons, followed by undergoing beta decays to stability. The yields through these conditions greatly depend on the reaction rates for neutron captures, the beta decay rates, and the astrophysical evolution. I will present our work on understanding the correlation between neutron capture reaction rates for nuclides across a range of neutron richness in a fixed nuclear reaction physics model. While some nuclide's neutron capture rates exhibit strong correlation with others, some others show more independence. This correlation is then convolved in weak r-process conditions to show abundance variation from the first to second peaks of the r-process. We do this as a sensitivity study to examine the importance of various neutron capture nuclides individually versus in correlation with other nuclides.