Related papers: Helioseismology can test the Maxwell-Boltzmann dis…
Nuclear reactions in stars occur between nuclei in the high-energy tail of the energy distribution and are sensitive to possible deviations from the standard equilibrium thermal-energy distribution, the well-known Maxwell-Boltzmann…
The physics of nuclear reactions in stellar plasma is reviewed with special emphasis on the importance of the velocity distribution of ions. Then the properties (density and temperature) of the weak-coupled solar plasma are analysed,…
Energy and momentum of the elementary excitations become independent variables in medium: energy and momentum statistical distributions are not identical. The momentum distribution and not the energy distribution is relevant for barrier…
The majority of nuclear reactions in astrophysics involve unstable nuclei which are not fully accessible by experiments yet. Therefore, there is high demand for reliable predictions of cross sections and reaction rates by theoretical means.…
Nuclear reactions proceed differently in stellar plasmas than in the laboratory due to the thermal effects in the plasma. On one hand, a target nucleus is bombarded by projectiles distributed in energy with a distribution defined by the…
Density and temperature conditions in the solar core suggest that the microscopic diffusion of electrons and ions could be nonstandard: Diffusion and friction coefficients are energy dependent, collisions are not two-body processes and…
Properties of atomic nuclei important for the prediction of astrophysical reaction rates are reviewed. In the first part, a recent simulation of evolution and nucleosynthesis of stars between 15 and 25 solar masses is presented. This study…
The Coulomb barrier is in general much higher than thermal energy. Nuclear fusion reactions occur only among few protons and nuclei with higher relative energies than Coulomb barrier. It is the equilibrium velocity distribution of these…
Density and temperature conditions in many stellar core (like the solar core) imply the presence of nonideal plasma effects with memory and long-range interactions between particles. This aspect suggests the possibility that the stellar…
Halo nuclei are exotic nuclei which exhibit a strongly clusterised structure: they can be seen as one or two valence nucleons loosely bound to a core. Being observed at the ridge of the valley of stability, halo nuclei are studied mostly…
The observed deficit of $\rm ^8B$ solar neutrinos may call for an improved standard model of the sun or an expanded standard model of particle physics ({\it e.g.,} with neutrino masses and mixing). In the former case, contemporary fluid…
This chapter will go through the important nuclear reactions in stellar evolution and explosions, passing through the individual stellar burning stages and also explosive burning conditions. To follow the changes in the composition of…
Explosive nuclear burning in astrophysical environments produces unstable nuclei which again can be targets for subsequent reactions. In addition, it involves a large number of stable nuclides which are not fully explored by experiments,…
The crust of a neutron star is essentially determined by the low-density region ($\rho<\rho_0\approx0.15-0.16\unit{fm}^{-3}$) of the equation of state. At the bottom of the inner crust, where the density is $\rho\lesssim0.1\rho_0$, the…
The core of a neutron star contains several species of particles, whose relative equilibrium concentrations are determined by the local density. As the star spins down, its centrifugal force decreases continuously, and the star contracts.…
The angular distributions for elastic scattering and breakup of halo nuclei are analysed using a near-side/far-side decomposition within the framework of the dynamical eikonal approximation. This analysis is performed for 11Be impinging on…
Sensitivities of nuclear reaction rates to a variation of nuclear properties are studied. Target nuclei range from proton- to neutron-dripline for 10<=Z<=83. Reactions considered are nucleon- and alpha-induced reactions mediated by the…
We solve the quasiclassical problem of tunneling through an external potential barrier in a dense plasma, where the tunneling particles undergo simultaneous collisions with other particles in thermodynamic equilibrium. Under such conditions…
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…
The evolution of low- and intermediate mass stars at the onset and during core helium burning is reviewed. Particular emphasis is laid on structural differences, which may allow to identify a star's nature and evolutionary phase in spite of…