Related papers: Carbon burning at stellar energies
In stars that lie on the main sequence in the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram, like our sun, hydrogen is fused to helium in a number of nuclear reaction chains and series, such as the proton-proton chain and the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycles.…
Carbon burning is a crucial process for a number of important astrophysical scenarios. The lowest measured energy is around E$_{\rm c.m.}$=2.1 MeV, only partially overlapping with the energy range of astrophysical interest. The currently…
Preliminary results of a new set of stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis calculations for massive stars are presented. These results were obtained with an extended reaction network up to Bi. The discussion focuses on the importance of…
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…
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…
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 relevant energy ranges for stellar nuclear reactions are introduced. Low-energy compound and direct reactions are discussed. Stellar modifications of the cross sections are presented. Implications for experiments are outlined.
Ultralight bosons such as axions and dark photons are well-motivated hypothetical particles, whose couplings to ordinary matter can be effectively constrained by stellar cooling. Limits on these interactions can be obtained by demanding…
Studies in nuclear astrophysics have long been associated with long runs at small accelerators, measuring ever-decreasing cross sections as one approached (but rarely reached) the energy of reactions in stars. But in recent years pioneering…
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.…
We analyze thermonuclear and pycnonuclear fusion reactions in dense matter containing atomic nuclei of different types. We extend a phenomenological expression for the reaction rate, proposed recently by Gasques et al. (2005) for the…
Neutrons produced by the carbon fusion reaction 12C(12C,n)23Mg play an important role in stellar nucleosynthesis. However, past studies have shown large discrepancies between experimental data and theory, leading to an uncertain cross…
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…
Carbon-oxygen (C-O) shell mergers in massive stars play a crucial role in both nucleosynthesis and the final stages of stellar evolution. These convective-reactive events significantly alter the internal structure of the star shortly before…
The electron capture process plays an important role in the evolution of the core collapse of a massive star that precedes the supernova explosion. In this study, the electron capture on nuclei in stellar environment is described in the…
The nuclear rates for reactions involving 12C and 16O are key to compute the energy release and nucleosynthesis of massive stars during their evolution. These rates shape the stellar structure and evolution, and impact the nature of the…
The reactions of relevance for stellar evolution are difficult to measure directly in the laboratory at the small astrophysical energies. In recent years indirect reaction methods have been developed and applied to extract low-energy…
Fusion reactions relevant for the carbon and oxygen burning cycles in highly evolved stars are investigated in a standard approach to fusion. We employ the double folding method to evaluate the ion-ion interactions with Gogny-D1 and…
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…
Nuclear fusion reactions are the most important processes in nature to power stars and produce new elements, and lie at the center of the understanding of nucleosynthesis in the universe. It is critically important to study the reactions in…