Impact of individual nuclear masses on r-process abundances

We have performed for the first time a comprehensive study of the sensitivity of r-process nucleosynthesis to individual nuclear masses across the chart of nuclides. Using the latest version (2012) of the Finite-Range Droplet Model, we consider mass variations of +/- 0.5 MeV and propagate each mass change to all affected quantities, including Q values, reaction rates, and branching ratios. We find such mass variations can result in up to an order of magnitude local change in the final abundance pattern produced in an r-process simulation. We identify key nuclei whose masses have a substantial impact on abundance predictions for hot, cold, and neutron star merger r-process scenarios and could be measured at future radioactive beam facilities.