Related papers: Origin of the Chemical Elements
In this series of lectures I discuss the basic principles and the modelling of the chemical evolution of galaxies. In particular, I present models for the chemical evolution of the Milky Way galaxy and compare them with the available…
In this review we re-evaluate our observational and theoretical understanding of the chemical evolution of protoplanetary disks. We discuss how improved observational capabilities have enabled the detection of numerous molecules exposing an…
In this review, we first reassess the supernova remnant paradigm for the origin of galactic cosmic rays in the light of recent cosmic-ray data acquired by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. We then describe the theory of light element…
This brief overview stresses the importance of laboratory data and theory in analyzing astronomical observations and understanding the physical and chemical processes that drive the astrophysical phenomena in our Universe. This includes…
Stars are fossils that retain the history of their host galaxies. Carbon and heavier elements are created inside stars and are ejected when they die. From the spatial distribution of elements in galaxies, it is therefore possible to…
The first massive stars triggered the onset of chemical evolution by releasing the first metals (elements heavier than helium) in the Universe. The nature of these stars and how the early chemical enrichment took place is still largely…
We discuss the fine-tunings of nuclear reactions in the Big Bang and in stars and draw some conclusions on the emergence of the light elements and the life-relevant elements carbon and oxygen. We also stress how to improve these…
The quest to comprehend how nuclear processes influence astrophysical phenomena is driving experimental and theoretical research programs worldwide. One of the main goals in nuclear astrophysics is to understand how energy is generated in…
Within the precise cosmological framework provided by the Lambda-Cold Dark Matter model and standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the chemical evolution of the pregalactic gas can now be followed with accuracy limited only by the uncertainties…
In this review we explore aspects of the field of astrobiology from an astronomical viewpoint. We therefore focus on the origin of life in the context of planetary formation, with additional emphasis on tracing the most abundant volatile…
Essentially everything of astronomical interest is either part of a galaxy, or from a galaxy, or otherwise relevant to the origin or evolution of galaxies. Diverse examples are that the isotropic composition of meteorites provides clues to…
This paper provides a brief overview of the journey of molecules through the Cosmos, from local diffuse interstellar clouds and PDRs to distant galaxies, and from cold dark clouds to hot star-forming cores, protoplanetary disks,…
The origin of many elements of the periodic table remains an unsolved problem. While many nucleosynthetic channels are broadly understood, significant uncertainties remain regarding certain groups of elements such as the intermediate and…
This paper contains the lectures I delivered during the 37th Saas-Fee Advanced Course in March 2007. It reviews all the main ingredients necessary to build galactic chemical evolution models with particular attention to the Milky Way and…
I derive completely analytically the time evolution and final abundances of the light elements (up to Be-7) formed in the big-bang nucleosynthesis.This highlights an interesting physics taking place during the formation of light elements in…
The Hubble expansion of galaxies, the $2.73\dK$ blackbody radiation background and the cosmic abundances of the light elements argue for a hot, dense origin of the universe --- the standard Big Bang cosmology --- and enable its evolution to…
A review of the status of the knowledge in the field of High-energy cosmic particles is presented. The spectrum, arrival direction distribution and composition measurements are summarized, together with some implications for the…
The cosmological abundance of nucleons determined from considerations of Big Bang nucleosynthesis allegedly provides compelling evidence for non-nucleonic dark matter. Recent developments in measurements of primordial light element…
Nuclear astrophysics aims at unraveling the cosmic origins of chemical elements and the physical processes powering stars. It constitutes a truly multidisciplinary field, that integrates tools, advancements, and accomplishments from…
This paper presents a review of ideas that interconnect Astrochemistry and Galactic Dynamics. Since these two areas are vast and not recent, each one has already been covered separately by several reviews. After a general historical…