Related papers: Some selected comments on cosmic radioactivities
Gamma-ray line observations provide a versatile tool for studies of nucleosynthesis processes and supernova physics. In particular, the observation of radioactive species in the interstellar medium probes recent nucleosynthesis activity on…
The last decade has been dense with new developments in the search for the sources of Galactic cosmic rays. Some of these developments have confirmed the tight connection between cosmic rays and supernovae in our Galaxy, through the…
In order to understand galaxy evolution through cosmic times it is critical to derive the properties of the molecular gas content of galaxies, i.e. the material out of which stars ultimately form. The last decade has seen rapid progress in…
The recurrent activity of radio AGN, with phases of activity alternating with periods of quiescence, has been known since the early studies of these objects. The full relevance of this cycle is emphasised by the requirement, from the AGN…
There is an unceasing incoming flux of extraterrestrial materials reaching the Earth's atmosphere. Some of these objects produce luminous columns when they ablate during the hypersonic encounter with air molecules. A few fireballs occur…
Recent international efforts have brought us closer to unveiling the century old mystery of the origin of cosmic rays. Cosmic ray, gamma ray, and neutrino observatories are reaching the necessary sensitivity to study the highest energy…
Young stellar objects are observed to have large X-ray fluxes and are thought to produce commensurate luminosities in energetic particles (cosmic rays). This particle radiation, in turn, can synthesize short-lived radioactive nuclei through…
We show that if comets (or any small icy planetesimals such as Kuiper belt objects) are composed of pebble piles, their internal radiogenic as well as geochemical heating results in considerably different evolutionary outcomes compared to…
The detection of high-energy particles, cosmic rays (CRs), deep inside the heliosphere implies that there are, at least, three distinctly different stages in the lifetime of a CR particle: acceleration, propagation in the interstellar…
Multi-wavelength observations made in the last decade suggest that the universe underwent an intense phase of star formation in the past (z > 1). This intensive activity is commonly attributed to a higher galaxy merger rate when the…
Imaging the Universe during the first hundreds of millions of years remains one of the exciting challenges facing modern cosmology. Observations of the redshifted 21 cm line of atomic hydrogen offer the potential of opening a new window…
The manuscript reviews progress achieved in recent years in various aspects of nuclear astrophysics, including stellar nucleosynthesis, nuclear aspects of supernova collapse and explosion, neutrino-induced reactions and their possible role…
In the last 5-10 years, wide-field imaging capabilities and effective mosaicing algorithms have made possible a variety of ambitious interferometric surveys of the Galaxy, resulting in images of unprecedented sensitivity and resolution.…
The presence of short-lived ($\sim$\,Myr) radioactive isotopes in meteoritic inclusions at the time of their formation represents a unique opportunity to study the circumstances that led to the formation of the Solar System. To interpret…
Chondritic meteorites constitute the most ancient rock record available in the laboratory to study the formation of the solar system and its planets. Detailed investigations of their mineralogy, petrography, chemistry and isotopic…
Recent high energy gamma-ray observations of both single supernova remnants and superbubbles, together with observations of supernovae, star formation regions, and local cosmic ray composition, now provide an integrated framework tying…
A necessary condition for the reliable modelling of the structure or evolution of the stars and of their concomitant nucleosynthesis is the availability of good quality nuclear data in a very wide area of the chart of nuclides. This short…
The origin of cosmic rays is one of the major unresolved astrophysical questions. In particular, the highest energy cosmic rays observed possess macroscopic energies and their origin is likely to be associated with the most energetic…
Three decades ago the first convincing evidence of microbial fossils in carbonaceous chondrites was discovered and reported by Hans Dieter Pflug and his collaborators. In addition to morphology, other data, notably laser mass spectroscopy,…
Given current uncertainties in the cratering rates and geological histories of icy objects in the outer solar system, it is worth considering how the ages of icy surfaces could be constrained with measurements from future landed missions. A…