The Influence of Nuclear Reactions and Nuclear Structure in Astrophysics

Abstract

Nuclear reactions play an important role for the energy production and the nucleosynthesis in stars. New facilities, able to accelerate radioactive nuclei or high-intensity stable beams have allowed us to measure in the laboratory reactions involving short-lived nuclei or processes with very small cross sections, which are crucial for stellar nucleosynthesis. I will discuss some of the recent experiments studying fusion and transfer reactions with radioactive beams which play a critical role in various quiescent and explosive stellar environments.