Origin of the Elements Part II: From Fe to Pb and the Actinides

Part I of this series concentrated on the understanding of element abundances (and their creation) in the Universe up to Fe, Ni, and Zn. With respect to stellar contributions it was restricted to the evolution of single stars and did not include binary systems. There exists an important contribution to Fe and elements in its vicinity from type Ia supernovae and to the production of the heaviest elements from neutron star mergers, both originating from binary systems. Therefore, this part II adds a discussion of element production up to Zn from binary stellar systems and presents the origin of all heavier elements in a joint review for both types of stellar (single and binary) systems.