Related papers: Resolving conclusions about the early Universe req…
A detailed analysis of primordial nucleosynthesis predictions for light element abundances is performed. Contents: 1. The standard cosmology: an overview. 2. Primordial nucleosynthesis. 3. The Born rates for n<->p reactions. 4. Finite…
Several cosmological measurements have attained significant levels of maturity and accuracy over the last decade. Continuing this trend, future observations promise measurements of the statistics of the cosmic mass distribution at an…
Nucleosynthesis processes involve reactions on several thousand nuclei, both close to and far off stability. The preparation of reaction rates to be used in astrophysical investigations requires experimental and theoretical input. In this…
Nuclear reactions govern major aspects of the chemical evolution od galaxies and stars. Analytic study of the reaction rates and reaction probability integrals is attempted here. Exact expressions for the reaction rates and reaction…
Abundance ratios of radioactive to stable neutron-capture elements in very metal-poor stars may be used to estimate the age of our Galaxy. But extracting accurate ages from these data requires continuing work on many fronts: a)…
Associated with the cosmic acceleration are the old and new cosmological constant problems, recently put into the more general context of the dark energy problem. In broad terms, the old problem is related to an unexpected order of…
We reinvestigate the constraints from primordial nucleosynthesis on a possible time-dependent quark mass. The limits on such quark-mass variations are particularly sensitive to the adopted observational abundance constraints. Hence, in the…
An important ingredient for applications of nuclear physics to e.g. astrophysics or nuclear energy are the cross sections for reactions of neutrons with rare isotopes. Since direct measurements are often not possible, indirect methods like…
The establishment of extremely strong bounds on the magnitude of the electric dipole moment of the neutron, a quantity that is of great importance for determining the level of time reversal symmetry respected by the strong interactions,…
The light relic density affects the thermal and expansion history of the early Universe leaving a number of observable imprints. We focus on the primordial abundances of light elements produced during the process of Big Bang nucleosynthesis…
For a brief time in its early evolution the Universe was a cosmic nuclear reactor. The expansion and cooling of the Universe limited this epoch to the first few minutes, allowing time for the synthesis in astrophysically interesting…
The success of present and future cosmological studies is tied to the ability to detect discrepancies in complex data sets within the framework of a cosmological model. Tensions caused by the presence of unknown systematic effects need to…
Nuclear masses play a fundamental role in understanding how the heaviest elements in the Universe are created in the $r$-process. We predict $r$-process nucleosynthesis yields using neutron capture and photodissociation rates that are based…
In this talk I discuss the relevance of atomic physics in understanding some important questions about elementary particle physics. A particular attention is devoted to atomic parity violation measurements which seem to suggest new physics…
Cosmology is undergoing an explosive period of activity, fueled both by new, accurate astrophysical data and by innovative theoretical developments. Cosmological parameters such as the total density of the Universe and the rate of…
We compute the shift in the epoch of matter-radiation equality due to the possible existence of a different statistical (non-extensive) background. The shift is mainly caused by a different neutrino-photon temperature ratio. We then…
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…
The traditional "explanation" for the observed acceleration of the universe is the existence of a positive cosmological constant. However, this can hardly be a truly convincing explanation, as an expanding universe is not expected to have a…
There is a high demand for nuclear data in multidisciplinary subject like nuclear astrophysics. The two areas of nuclear physics which are most clearly related to one another are stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis. The necessity for…
The creation of carbon and oxygen in our universe is one of the forefront questions in nuclear astrophysics. The determination of the abundance of these elements is key to both our understanding of the formation of life on earth and to the…