Nuclear reactions involving light elements & BBN

Abstract

Light elements play a key role in different scenario in astrophysics, ranging from primordial nucleosynthesis up to stellar nucleosynthesis and cosmic ray nucleosynthesis. The nuclear reaction cross section measurements of interest in primordial and stellar nucleosynthesis have been investigated in terrestrial laboratories via devoted experiments. However, because of the difficulties in reaching the Gamow energy windows of interest for such processes through direct approaches, the indirect Trojan Horse Method (THM) have been used in the last ’30 years for shedding light on some unsolved questions. After an introductory discussion about the role of the light elements, the discussion will be focused on the application of THM to two different case studies.