pynucastro: A Python Library for Nuclear Astrophysics

Abstract

We describe pynucastro 2.0, an open-source library for interactively creating and exploring astrophysical nuclear reaction networks. We demonstrate new methods for approximating rates and use detailed balance to create reverse rates, show how to build networks and determine whether they are appropriate for a particular science application, and discuss the changes made to the library over the past few years. Finally, we demonstrate the validity of the networks produced and share how we use pynucastro networks in simulation codes.

Keywords

• Nuclear astrophysics
• Nucleosynthesis
• Nuclear fusion
• Astrophysical processes
• Reaction rates
• Astronomy software