Related papers: Cosmic radioactivities
Comets are considered as the most primitive objects in the Solar System. Their composition provides information on the composition of the primitive solar nebula, 4.6 Gyr ago. The radio domain is a privileged tool to study the composition of…
A new quantum effect connected with the late time behavior of decaying states is described and its possible observational consequences are analyzed: It is shown that charged unstable particles as well as neutral unstable particles with…
The late stages of stellar evolution from asymptotic giant branch stars to planetary nebulae are now known to be an active phase of molecular synthesis. Over 80 gas-phase molecules have been detected through rotational transitions in the…
Since their first discovery in the late 1960s, Gamma-ray bursts have attracted an exponentially growing interest from the international community due to their central role in the most highly debated open questions of the modern research of…
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…
High-redshift primordial galaxies have recently been found with evolved stellar populations and complex star-formation histories reaching back to 250 Myr after the Big Bang. Their intense bursts of star-formation appear to be interspersed…
Cosmological measurements of the radiation density in the early universe can be used as a sensitive probe of physics beyond the standard model. Observations of primordial light element abundances have long been used to place non-trivial…
Galactic Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are copious sources of gamma-rays that can pose a threat to complex life. Using recent determinations of their rate and the probability of GRBs causing massive extinction, we explore what type of universes…
A century ago, nuclear physics entered astrophysics, giving birth to a new field of science referred to as "Nuclear Astrophysics". With time, it developed at an impressive pace into a vastly inter- and multidisciplinary discipline bringing…
Our Galaxy is the largest nuclear interaction experiment which we know, because of the interaction between cosmic ray particles and the interstellar material. Cosmic rays are particles, which have been accelerated in the Galaxy or in…
The Universe is largely transparent to $\gamma$ rays in the GeV energy range, making these high-energy photons valuable for exploring energetic processes in the cosmos. After seven years of operation, the Fermi {\it Gamma-ray Space…
Monte Carlo simulations of Galactic Supernovae are carried out to study the rate of nearby events, which may have a direct effect on Earth's ecology though ionizing radiation and cosmic ray bombardment. A nearby supernova may have left a…
Cosmic rays are charged relativistic particles that reach the Earth with extremely high energies, providing striking evidence of the existence of effective accelerators in the Universe. Below an energy around $\sim 10^{17}$ eV cosmic rays…
Experiments looking for rare events like the direct detection of dark matter particles, neutrino interactions or the nuclear double beta decay are operated deep underground to suppress the effect of cosmic rays. But the production of…
Recent improvements in stellar models for intermediate-mass and massive stars are recalled, together with their expectations for the synthesis of radioactive nuclei of lifetime $\tau \lesssim 25$ Myr, in order to re-examine the origins of…
The time domain of the sky has been only sparsely explored. Nevertheless, recent discoveries from limited surveys and serendipitous discoveries indicate that there is much to be found on timescales from nanoseconds to years and at…
Many well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model predict the existence of new light species that may have been produced in the early universe. Prominent examples include axions, sterile neutrinos, gravitinos, dark photons, and more. The…
Gamma-ray spectrometers with high spectral resolution have been operated in space since 2002. Major efforts to understand instrumental response and backgrounds are a requird before detailed science interpretations can be derived; by now,…
The search for the origin of cosmic rays is as active as ever, mainly driven by new insights provided by recent pieces of observation. Much effort is being channelled in putting the so called supernova paradigm for the origin of galactic…
There is now solid experimental evidence of at least one supernova explosion within 100 pc of Earth within the last few million years, from measurements of the short-lived isotope 60Fe in widespread deep-ocean samples, as well as in the…