Related papers: LUNA: Status and Prospects
Nuclear astrophysics strives for a comprehensive picture of the nuclear reactions responsible for synthesizing the chemical elements and for powering the stellar evolution engine. Deep underground in the Gran Sasso laboratory the cross…
It is in the nature of astrophysics that many of the processes and objects one tries to understand are physically inaccessible. Thus, it is important that those aspects that can be studied in the laboratory be rather well understood. One…
The chemical evolution of the Universe and several phases of the stellar life are regulated by minute nuclear reactions. The key point for each of these reactions is the value of cross sections at the energies at which they take place in…
LUNA, Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics at Gran Sasso, is measuring fusion cross sections down to the energy of the nucleosynthesis inside stars. Outstanding results obtained up to now are the cross-section measurements within…
Nuclear reaction cross sections are essential ingredients to predict the evolution of AGB stars and understand their impact on the chemical evolution of our Galaxy. Unfortunately, the cross sections of the reactions involved are often very…
For millennia, mankind has been fascinated by the marvel of the starry night sky. Yet, a proper scientific understanding of how stars form, shine, and die is a relatively recent achievement, made possible by the interplay of different…
The goal of nuclear astrophysics is to measure cross sections of nuclear physics reactions of interest in astrophysics. At stars temperatures, these cross sections are very low due to the suppression of the Coulomb barrier. Cosmic ray…
The field of nuclear astrophysics is devoted to the study of the creation of the chemical elements. By nature, it is deeply intertwined with the physics of the Sun. The nuclear reactions of the proton-proton cycle of hydrogen burning,…
The LUNA (Laboratory Underground for Nuclear Astrophysics) facility has been designed to study nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest. It is located deep underground in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, Italy. Two electrostatic…
Nuclear reactions are responsible for the chemical evolution of stars, galaxies and the Universe. Unfortunately, at temperatures of interest for nuclear astrophysics, the cross-sections of the thermonuclear reactions are in the…
The nucleosynthesis of light elements, from helium up to silicon, mainly occurs in Red Giant and Asymptotic Giant Branch stars and Novae. The relative abundances of the synthesized nuclides critically depend on the rates of the nuclear…
Nuclear physics has a long and productive history of application to astrophysics which continues today. Advances in the accuracy and breadth of astrophysical data and theory drive the need for better experimental and theoretical…
The experimental study of nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest is greatly facilitated by a low-background, high-luminosity setup. The Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics (LUNA) 400 kV accelerator offers ultra-low…
The origin of the elements is a fascinating question that scientists have been trying to answer for the last seven decades. The formation of light elements in the primordial universe and heavier elements in astrophysical sources occurs…
The 13C(a,n)16O reaction is the main neutron source of the s-process taking place in thermally pulsing AGB stars and it is one of the main candidate sources of neutrons for the i-process in the astrophysical sites proposed so far.…
In this review, we emphasize the interplay between astrophysical observations, modeling, and nuclear physics laboratory experiments. Several important nuclear cross sections for astrophysics have long been identified e.g.…
Nuclear reactions transform atomic nuclei inside stars. This is the process of stellar nucleosynthesis. The basic concepts of determining nuclear reaction rates inside stars are reviewed. How stars manage to burn their fuel so slowly most…
Ultra-sensitive in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy studies for nuclear astrophysics are performed at the LUNA (Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics) 400 kV accelerator, deep underground in Italy's Gran Sasso laboratory. By virtue of…
Atomic nuclei are transformed into each other in the cosmos by nuclear reactions inside stars: -- the process of nucleosynthesis. The basic concepts of determining nuclear reaction rates inside stars and how they manage to burn their fuel…
The work reported in this dissertation will concern the study of kinetics, cycles and quantum mechanic processes of nuclear reactions involved in massive stars together with explosive nucleosynthesis phenomena having a key role in…