Waiting Points in Nova and X-ray burst Nucleosynthesis

In nova and X‐ray burst nucleosynthesis, waiting points are nuclei in the reaction path which delay the nuclear flow towards heavier nuclei, typically because of a weak proton capture reaction and a long β+ lifetime. Waiting points can influence the energy generation and final abundances synthesized in these explosions. We have constructed a systematic, quantitative set of criteria to identify rp‐process waiting points, and use them to search for waiting points in post‐processing simulations of novae and X‐ray bursts. These criteria have been incorporated into the Computational Infrastructure for Nuclear Astrophysics, online at nucastrodata.org, to enable anyone to run customized searches for waiting points.