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The core of a massive star (M > 8 Msun) eventually collapses. This implosion usually triggers a supernova (SN) explosion that ejects most of the stellar envelope and leaves behind a neutron star (NS) with a mass of up to about 2 Msun.…
The study of stellar burning began just over 100 years ago. Nonetheless, we do not yet have a detailed picture of the nucleosynthesis within stars and how nucleosynthesis impacts stellar structure and the remnants of stellar evolution.…
A number of properties of dense matter can be understood semiquantitatively in terms of simple physical arguments. We begin with the outer parts of neutron stars, and consider the density at which pressure ionization occurs, the density at…
We review aspects of the hydrodynamical combustion of nuclear matter to strange quark matter in a neutron star. Numerical studies on non-premixed combustion that consistently include hydrodynamical flows in a reactive-diffusive setup show…
About half of the elements beyond iron are synthesized in stars by rapid-neutron capture process (r-process). The stellar environment provides very high neutron flux in a short time ($\sim$ seconds) which is conducive for the creation of…
Over the billions of years since the Big Bang, the lives, deaths and afterlives of stars have enriched the Universe in the heavy elements that make up so much of ourselves and our world. This review summarizes the methods used to evolve…
The most energetic part of the electromagnetic spectrum bears the purest clues to the synthesis of atomic nuclei in the universe. The decay of radioactive species, synthesized in stellar environments and ejected into the interstellar…
Stars are powerful sources for weakly interacting particles that are produced by nuclear or plasma processes in their hot interior. These fluxes can be used for direct measurements (e.g. solar or supernova neutrinos) or the back-reaction on…
Superbursts of neutron stars are rare but powerful events explained by the explosive burning of carbon in the deep layers of the outer envelope of the star. In this paper we perform a simulation of superbursts and propose a simple method…
Neutrinos produced during a supernova explosion induce reactions on abundant nuclei in the outer stellar shells and contribute in this way to the synthesis of the elements in the Universe. This neutrino nucleosynthesis process has been…
Understanding signals from neutron stars requires knowledge about the transport inside the star. We review the transport properties and the underlying reaction rates of dense hadronic and quark matter in the crust and the core of neutron…
The physics of stars, their workings and their evolution, is a goldmine of problems in statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. We discuss many examples that illustrate the possibility of deepening student's knowledge of statistical…
Neutrino processes in semi-transparent supernova matter, opaque to semi-transparent protoneutron star matter, and catalyzed neutron stars are discussed.
In the inner crust of a neutron star, due to the high density and pressure, nuclei which are still present, are immersed in a neutron superfluid. One then expects that the dynamical properties of nuclei are significantly affected. In order…
Most supernova explosions accompany the death of a massive star. These explosions give birth to neutron stars and black holes and eject solar masses of heavy elements. However, determining the mechanism of explosion has been a half-century…
A star burns its nuclear fuel and balances gravitation by the pressure of the heated gas, during its active lifetime. After the exhaustion of the nuclear fuel, a low mass star finds peace as a {\em white dwarf}, where the pressure support…
The observation of neutrinos from Supernova 1987A has confirmed the theoretical conjecture that these particles play a crucial role during the collapse of the core of a massive star. Only one per cent of the energy they carry away from the…
The Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen (CNO) cycle is fundamental to the process of hydrogen burning in stars, serving as a pivotal mechanism. At its core, the primary reaction involves the radiative capture of a proton by $^{12}$C, crucially…
The nucleosynthesis in the first massive stars may be constrained by observing the surface composition of long-lived very iron-poor stars born around 10 billion years ago from material enriched by their ejecta. Many interesting clues on…
Accreting neutron stars exhibit Type I X-ray bursts from both frequent hydrogen/helium flashes as well as rare carbon flashes. The latter (superbursts) ignite in the ashes of the former. Hydrogen/helium bursts, however, are thought to…