The book covers the certain questions of nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics of light atomic nuclei and their processes at low and ultralow energies. Some methods of calculation of nuclear characteristics of the thermonuclear processes considered in nuclear astrophysics are given here. The obtained results are directly applicable to the solution of certain nuclear astrophysics problems in the field of description of the thermonuclear processes in the Sun, the stars and the Universe. The book is based on the results of approximately three-four tens of scientific papers generally published in recent five-seven years and consists of three sections. The first of them covers the description of the general methods of calculation of certain nuclear characteristics for the bound states or the continuum of quantum particles. The second section deals with the methods, the computer programs and the results of the phase shift analysis of elastic scattering in the p3He, p6Li, p12C, n12C, p13C, 4He4He and 4He12C nuclear systems at low and ultralow energies. The results obtained on the basis of three-body models of certain light atomic nuclei are given in the third section, notably the 7Li, 9Be and 11B nuclei which are used for examination of the conjugated intercluster potentials determined on the basis of the phase shifts of elastic scattering and using then in the nuclear astrophysics problems connected with the description of the thermonuclear processes in the Universe. The book will be useful for advanced students, postgraduate students and PhD doctoral candidates in universities and research institutes in the field of astrophysics and nuclear physics. The book is presented in Russian with a few inserts into English.
Nuclear reactions in stars are difficult to measure directly in the laboratory at the small astrophysical energies. In recent years indirect methods with rare isotopes have been developed and applied to extract low-energy astrophysical cross sections.
I describe in very simple terms the theoretical tools needed to investigate ultra-peripheral nuclear reactions for nuclear astrophysics purposes. For a more detailed account, see arXiv:0908.4307.
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 supernova mechanism and nucleosynthesis, explosive hydrogen burning in binary systems, and finally the observation of $γ$-rays from supernova remnants.
Introduction Theory of electromagnetic excitation and dissociation (Inelastic scattering at high energies: one-photon exchange, semiclassical approach and Glauber theory; Higher order electromagnetic effects, small xi-approximation) Discussion of experimental results for nuclear structure Coulomb dissociation as a tool to measure radiative capture processes relevant to nuclear astrophysics Antihydrogen production and electromagnetic processes at relativistic heavy ion colliders Conclusions
Accurate nuclear reaction rates are needed for primordial nucleosynthesis and hydrostatic burning in stars. The relevant reactions are extremely difficult to measure directly in the laboratory at the small astrophysical energies. In recent years direct reactions have been developed and applied to extract low-energy astrophysical S-factors. These methods require a combination of new experimental techniques and theoretical efforts, which are the subject of this presentation.
The Trojan Horse (TH) method is a powerful indirect technique that provides information to determine astrophysical factors for rearrangement processes at astrophysically relevant energies. A short coming for understanding the reliability of the technique has been determining the importance of nuclear and Coulomb effects on the energy dependence of the yield. Using a simple model, we demonstrate that off-energy-shell and Coulomb effects in the entry channel and the final state nuclear interactions do not change the energy dependence of the astrophysical factor extracted from the TH reaction. So…
Low-energy nuclear weak-interaction processes play important roles in many astrophysical contexts, and effective field theory is believed to be a highly useful framework for describing these processes in a model-independent manner. I present a brief account of the basic features of the nuclear effective theory approach, and some examples of actual calculations carried out in this method.
Within the asymptotic theory proposed by authors R. Yarmukhamedov and K.I. Tursunmakhatov [Phys. Rev. C (submitted 2019)] for the peripheral sub- and above-barrier transfer $A$($x$, $y$)$B$ reaction in the three-body ($A$, $a$ and $y$) model ($ x$= $y$ + $a$ and $B$= $A$ + $a$, and $ a$ is a transferred particle), the analysis of the experimental angular distributions of the differential cross sections is performed for the peripheral proton and triton transfer ${\rm{^9Be(^{10}B,\,^9Be)^{10}B}}$, ${\rm{^{16}O(^3He}},\,d{\rm{)^{17}F}}$ and ${\rm{^{19}F(}}p,\,α{\rm{)^{16}O}}$ reactions at above-a…
The connection between neutrino physics, nucleosynthesis of elements in astrophysical sites, laboratory measurements with rare exotic nuclei and astronomical observations is discussed. The key role played by neutrinos is emphasized and the close connection between neutrino physics and nucleosynthesis is highlighted.
The work presents the recent developments in Quantum Monte Carlo calculations for nuclear systems including strange degrees of freedom. The Auxiliary Field Diffusion Monte Carlo algorithm has been extended to the strange sector by the inclusion of the lightest among the hyperons, the $Λ$ particle. This allows to perform detailed calculations for $Λ$ hypernuclei, providing a microscopic framework for the study of the hyperon-nucleon interaction in connection with the available experimental information. The extension of the method for strange neutron matter, put the basis for the first Diffusion…
Our understanding of the observed elemental abundance in the universe, stemming from nuclear reactions during the big bang or from nucleosynthesis within stellar environments, requires theoretical analyses based on multidimensional nucleosynthesis calculations involving hundreds of nuclei connected via thousands of nuclear processes. Up to recently, full nucleosynthesis network calculations remained computationally expensive and prohibitive. A recent publication by a Chinese group led by YuGang Ma [1] has proved that advanced computational algorithms developed in the last decade for the purpos…
Nuclear reaction cross sections are usually very small in typical astrophysical environments. It has been one of the major challenges of experimental nuclear astrophysics to assess the magnitude of these cross sections in the laboratory. For a successful experiment high luminosity beams are needed. Increasing the target width, one also increases the reaction yields. But, this is of limited use due to multiple scattering in the target. Storage rings are a very good way to overcome these difficulties. In principle, they can be tuned to large luminosities, and have the advantage of crossing the i…
We discuss recent developments in indirect methods used in nuclear astrophysics to determine the capture cross sections and subsequent rates of various stellar burning processes, when it is difficult to perform the corresponding direct measurements. We discuss in brief, the basic concepts of Asymptotic Normalization Coefficients, the Trojan Horse Method, the Coulomb Dissociation Method, (d,p), and charge-exchange reactions.
The quest for the nuclear equation of state (EoS) at high densities and/or extreme isospin is one of the longstanding problems of nuclear physics. Ab initio calculations for the nuclear many-body problem make predictions for the density and isospin dependence of the EoS far away from the saturation point of nuclear matter. On the other hand, in recent years substantial progress has been mode to constrain the EoS both, from the astrophysical side and from accelerator based experiments. Heavy ion experiments support a soft EoS at moderate densities while recent neutron star observations require …
Coulomb dissociation is an especially simple and important reaction mechanism. Since the perturbation due to the electric field of the nucleus is exactly known, firm conclusions can be drawn from such measurements. Electromagnetic matrix elements and astrophysical S-factors for radiative capture processes can be extracted from experiments. We describe the basic theory, new results concerning higher order effects in the dissociation of neutron halo nuclei, and briefly review the experimental results obtained up to now. Some new applications of Coulomb dissociation for nuclear astrophysics and n…
The Trojan Horse method is a powerful indirect technique that provides information to determine astrophysical factors for binary rearrangement processes $x + A \to b + B$ at astrophysically relevant energies by measuring the cross section for the Trojan Horse reaction $a + A \to y+ b + B$ in quasi-free kinematics. We present the theory of the Trojan Horse method for resonant binary subreactions based on the half-off-energy-shell R matrix approach which takes into account the off-energy-shell effects and initial and final state interactions.
Three-body continuum problems are investigated for light nuclei of astrophysical relevance. We focus on three-body decays of resonances or recombination via resonances or the continuum background. The concepts of widths, decay mechanisms and dynamic evolution are discussed. We also discuss results for the triple $α$ decay in connection with $2^+$ resonances and density and temperature dependence rates of recombination into light nuclei from $α$-particles and neutrons.
Transfer reactions are an important tool in nuclear astrophysics. These reactions allow us to identify states in nuclei and to find the corresponding energies, to determine if these states can contribute to astrophysical nuclear reactions and ultimately to determine the strength of that contribution. In this paper, the basic details of how transfer reactions may be used in nuclear astrophysics are set out along with some common pitfalls to avoid.
I review progress that has been made in nuclear astrophysics over the past few years and summarize some of the questions that remain. Topics selected include solar neutrinos, supernovae (the explosion and associated nucleosynthesis), laboratory astrophysics, and neutron star structure.
Nuclear Astrophysics is a vibrant field at the intersection of nuclear physics and astrophysics that encompasses research in nuclear physics, astrophysics, astronomy, and computational science. This paper is not a review. It is intended to provide an incomplete personal perspective on current trends in nuclear astrophysics and the specific role of nuclear physics in this field.
In this dissertation, we have studied the implications of nuclear interaction for nuclear structure and astrophysics within the relativistic mean-field (RMF) model.
Some nuclear and astrophysical aspects of the r-process are discussed. Particular attention is paid to observations of abundances in metal-poor stars and their implications for the astrophysical site and yield patterns of the r-process. The effects of supernova neutrinos and related nuclear processes on the yield patterns are explored. The uncertainties in the theoretical nuclear input for the r-process are discussed and the need for experimental data is emphasized.
This is an overview over the prediction of astrophysical reaction rates in the statistical model, with special emphasis on the parametrization of optical alpha+nucleus potentials.
We show how the charge symmetry of strong interactions can be used to relate the proton and neutron asymptotic normalization coefficients (ANCs) of the one nucleon overlap integrals for light mirror nuclei. This relation extends to the case of real proton decay where the mirror analog is a virtual neutron decay of a loosely bound state. In this case, a link is obtained between the proton width and the squared ANC of the mirror neutron state. The relation between mirror overlaps can be used to study astrophysically relevant proton capture reactions based on information obtained from transfer re…
I discuss three open problems in astrophysics where nuclear physics can make important contributions: the solar abundance problem, dark matter particle detection, and the origin of the r-process elements.
A short status report on Coulomb dissociation, an indirect method for nuclear astrophysics is given. An analytically solvable approach to study electromagnetic excitation in ^{11}Be, the archetype of a halo nucleus, is proposed.
We propose a new stochastic method to describe low-lying excited states of finite nuclei superposing multiple Slater determinants without assuming generator coordinates a priori. We examine accuracy of our method by using simple BKN interaction.
We present an introduction to ab initio nuclear theory with a focus on nuclear reactions. After a high-level overview of ab initio approaches in nuclear physics, we give a more detailed description of the no-core shell model technique equivalent to a large extent to configuration-interaction methods applied in quantum chemistry. We then introduce the no-core shell model with continuum approach that provides a quantum many-body description of nuclear reactions. After a brief review of nuclear reactions important for astrophysics, we present examples of results of ab initio calculations of radia…
The nuclear equation of state (EoS) at high densities and/or extreme isospin is one of the longstanding problems of nuclear physics. In the last years substantial progress has been made to constrain the EoS both, from the astrophysical side and from accelerator based experiments. Heavy ion experiments support a soft EoS at moderate densities while the possible existence of high mass neutron star observations favors a stiff EoS. Ab initio calculations for the nuclear many-body problem make predictions for the density and isospin dependence of the EoS far away from the saturation point. Both, th…
Breakup reactions are generally quite complicated, they involve nuclear and electromagnetic forces including interference effects. Coulomb dissociation is an especially simple and important mechanism since the perturbation due to the electric field of the nucleus is exactly known. Therefore firm conclusions can be drawn from such measurements. Electromagnetic matrixelements, radiative capture cross-sections and astrophysical S-factors can be extracted from experiments. We describe the basic theory, give analytical results for higher order effects in the dissociation of neutron halo nuclei and …
The results of systematic calculations of isospin-symmetry-breaking corrections to superallowed beta-decays based on the self-consistent isospin- and angular-momentum-projected nuclear density functional theory (DFT) are reviewed with an emphasis on theoretical uncertainties of the model. Extensions of the formalism towards no core shell model approach with basis cutoff scheme dictated by the self-consistent particle-hole DFT solutions will be also discussed.
Electron beams provide important probes and constraints for nuclear astrophysics. This is especially exciting at energies within the regime of chiral effective field theory (EFT), which provides a systematic expansion for nuclear forces and electroweak operators based on quantum chromodynamics. This talk discusses some recent highlights and future directions based on chiral EFT, including nuclear structure and reactions for astrophysics, the neutron skin and constraints for the properties of neutron-rich matter in neutron stars and core-collapse supernovae, and the dark matter response of nucl…
Nuclear astrophysics is a multi-disciplinary field with a huge demand for nuclear data. Among its various fields, stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis are clearly the most closely related to nuclear physics. The need for nuclear data for astrophysics applications challenges experimental techniques as well as the robustness and predictive power of present nuclear models. Despite impressive progress for the last years, major problems and puzzles remain. In the present contribution, only a few nuclear astrophysics specific aspects are discussed. These concern some experimental progress related t…
A simple description for obtaining the parity distribution of nuclear levels in the pf + g9/2 shell as a function of excitation energy was recently derived. We implement this in a global nuclear level density model. In the framework of the statistical model, cross sections and astrophysical reaction rates are calculated in the Fe region and compared to rates obtained with the common assumption of an equal distribution of parities. We find considerable differences, especially for reactions involving particles in the exit channel.
We discuss models to calculate one- and two-neutron capture reactions on light nuclei. These are applied to calculate the reaction rates of 15N(n,gamma)16N, 16N(n,gamma)17}N and 4He(2n,gamma)6He. The possible astrophysical importance is discussed.
This paper follows the inaugural talk one of the authors (LT) gave at the opening of the ECT* workshop with the same title, which he co-organized in Trento, Italy, November 5-9, 2018. As such it follows the ideas expressed there, which were to out-line the discussions that the organizers intended for that meeting. Therefore, the paper will review the indirect methods in nuclear astrophysics, their use and their specific problems, old and new, the need to further developments rather than giving complete treatments of each method or reviewing exhaustively the existing literature. The workshop wa…
Intermediate energy Coulomb excitation and dissociation is a useful tool for nuclear structure and astrophysics studies. Low-lying strength in nuclei far from stability was discovered by this method. The effective range theory for low-lying strength in one-neutron halo nuclei is summarized and extended to two-neutron halo nuclei. This is of special interest in view of recent rather accurate experimental results on the low-lying electric dipole strength in $^{11}$Li. Another indirect approach to nuclear astrophysics is the Trojan horse method. It is pointed out that it is a suitable tool to inv…
Based on the intermediate energy radioactive Ion Beam Line in Lanzhou (RIBLL) of Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL) and Low Energy Radioactive Ion Beam Line (GIRAFFE) of Beijing National Tandem Accelerator Lab (HI13), the radioactive ion beam physics and nuclear astrophysics will be researched in detail. The key scientific problems are: the nuclear structure and reaction for nuclear far from $β$-stability line; the synthesize of new nuclides near drip lines and new super heavy nuclides; the properties of asymmetric nuclear matter with extra large isospin and some nuclear astro- rea…
I discuss especially my summer with Willy Fowler at Kellogg Radiation in 1951, where I did my "triple-alpha" work. I also go back even earlier to Arthur Eddington and Hans Bethe. I also mention the 1953 summer school in Ann Arbor.
Nuclear astrophysics is an interdisciplinary research field of nuclear physics and astrophysics, seeking for the answer to a question, how to understand the evolution of the Universe with the nuclear processes which we learn. We review the research activities of nuclear astrophysics in east and southeast Asia which includes astronomy, experimental and theoretical nuclear physics and astrophysics. Several hot topics such as the Li problems, critical nuclear reactions and properties in stars, properties of dense matter, r-process nucleosynthesis and $ν$-process nucleosynthesis are chosen and dis…
In this thesis, I discuss the use of the Auxiliary Field Diffusion Monte Carlo method to compute the ground state of nuclear Hamiltonians, and I show several applications to interesting problems both in nuclear physics and in nuclear astrophysics. In particular, the AFDMC algorithm is applied to the study of several nuclear systems, finite, and infinite matter. Results about the ground state of nuclei ($^4$He, $^8$He, $^{16}$O and $^{40}$Ca), neutron drops (with 8 and 20 neutrons) and neutron rich-nuclei (isotopes of oxygen and calcium) are discussed, and the equation of state of nuclear and n…
The prediction of cross sections for nuclei far off stability is crucial in the field of nuclear astrophysics. We discuss the model mostly employed for such calculations: the statistical model (Hauser-Feshbach). Special emphasis is put on the uncertainties arising from nuclear level density descriptions and an improved global description is presented. Furthermore, criteria for the applicability of the statistical model are investigated and a "map" for the applicability of the model to reactions of stable and unstable nuclei with neutral and charged particles is given.
By using a machine learning algorithms, we present an improved nuclear mass table with a root mean square deviation of less than $200$keV. The model is equipped with statistical error bars in order to compare with available experimental data. We use the resulting model to predict the composition of the outer crust of a neutron star. By means of simple Monte Carlo methods, we propagate the statistical uncertainties of the mass model to the equation of state of the system.
For a long time very little experimental information was available about neutrino properties, even though a minute neutrino mass has intriguing cosmological and astrophysical implications. This situation has changed in recent decades: intense experimental activity to measure many neutrino properties took place. Some of these developments and their implications for astrophysics and cosmology are briefly reviewed with a particular emphasis on neutrino magnetic moments and collective neutrino oscillations
Astrophysical environments that reach temperatures greater than $\sim$ 100 keV can have significant neutrino energy loss via both plasma processes and nuclear weak interactions. We find that nuclear processes likely produce the highest-energy neutrinos. Among the important weak nuclear interactions are both charged current channels (electron capture/emission and positron capture/emission) and neutral current channels (de-excitation of nuclei via neutrino pair emission). We show that in order to make a realistic prediction of the nuclear neutrino spectrum, one must take nuclear structure into a…
It is proposed here to investigate three major properties of the nuclear force that influence the amplitude of shell gaps, the nuclear binding energies as well as the nuclear $β$-decay properties far from stability, that are all key ingredients for modeling the r-process nucleosynthesis. These properties are derived from experiments performed in different facilities worldwide, using several various state-of-the-art experimental techniques including transfer and knockout reactions. Expected consequences on the r process nucleosynthesis as well as on the stability of super heavy elements are dis…
The aim of our work is to develop a unified equation of state (EoS) for nuclear and quark matter for a wide range in temperature, density and isospin so that it becomes applicable for heavy-ion collisions as well as for the astrophysics of neutron stars, their mergers and supernova explosions. As a first step, we use improved EoS for the hadronic and quark matter phases and join them via Maxwell construction. We discuss the limitations of a 2-phase description and outline steps beyond it, towards the formulation of a unified quark-nuclear matter EoS on a more fundamental level by a cluster vir…
The quest to comprehend how nuclear processes influence astrophysical phenomena is driving experimental and theoretical research programs worldwide. One of the main goals in nuclear astrophysics is to understand how energy is generated in stars, how elements are synthesized in stellar events and what the nature of neutron stars is. New experimental capabilities, the availability of radioactive beams and increased computational power paired with new astronomical observations have advanced the present knowledge. This review summarizes the progress in the field of nuclear astrophysics with a focu…
Nuclear reaction rates of astrophysical applications are traditionally determined on the basis of Hauser-Feshbach reaction codes. These codes adopt a number of approximations that have never been tested, such as a simplified width fluctuation correction, the neglect of delayed or multiple-particle emission during the electromagnetic decay cascade, or the absence of the pre-equilibrium contribution at increasing incident energies. The reaction code TALYS has been recently updated to estimate the Maxwellian-averaged reaction rates that are of astrophysical relevance. These new developments enabl…
Nuclear astrophysics, the union of nuclear physics and astronomy, went through an impressive expansion during the last twenty years. This could be achieved thanks to milestone improvements in astronomical observations, cross section measurements, powerful computer simulations and much refined stellar models. Italian groups are giving quite important contributions to every domain of nuclear astrophysics, sometimes being the leaders of worldwide unique experiments. In this paper we will discuss the astrophysical scenarios where nuclear astrophysics plays a key role and we will provide detailed d…
An update of a previous description of the BRUSLIB+NACRE package of nuclear data for astrophysics and of the web-based nuclear network generator NETGEN is presented. The new version of BRUSLIB contains the latest predictions of a wide variety of nuclear data based on the most recent version of the Brussels-Montreal Skyrme-HFB model. The nuclear masses, radii, spin/parities, deformations, single-particle schemes, matter densities, nuclear level densities, E1 strength functions, fission properties, and partition functions are provided for all nuclei lying between the proton and neutron drip line…
We develop a method to compute thermally-mediated transition rates between the ground state and long-lived isomers in nuclei. We also establish criteria delimiting a thermalization temperature above which a nucleus may be considered a single species and below which it must be treated as two separate species: a ground state species, and an astrophysical isomer ("astromer") species. Below the thermalization temperature, the destruction rates dominate the internal transition rates between the ground state and the isomer. If the destruction rates also differ greatly from one another, the nuclear l…
Selected topics in strangeness nuclear physics are critically reviewed. This includes production, structure and weak decay of $Λ$--Hypernuclei, the $\bar K$ nuclear interaction and the possible existence of $\bar K$ bound states in nuclei. Perspectives for future studies on these issues are also outlined.
Indirect methods in nuclear astrophysics are discussed. Recent work on Coulomb dissociation and an effective-range theory of low-lying electromagnetic strength of halo nuclei is presented. Coulomb dissociation of a halo nucleus bound by a zero-range potential is proposed as a homework problem (for further references see G. Baur and S. Typel, nucl-th/0504068). It is pointed out that the Trojan-Horse method (G. Baur, F. Rösel, D. Trautmann and R. Shyam, Phys. Rep. 111 (1984) 333) is a suitable tool to investigate subthreshold resonances.
This white paper informs the nuclear astrophysics community and funding agencies about the scientific directions and priorities of the field and provides input from this community for the 2015 Nuclear Science Long Range Plan. It summarizes the outcome of the nuclear astrophysics town meeting that was held on August 21-23, 2014 in College Station at the campus of Texas A&M University in preparation of the NSAC Nuclear Science Long Range Plan. It also reflects the outcome of an earlier town meeting of the nuclear astrophysics community organized by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (J…
