Aula dei Seminari (Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati)
Aula dei Seminari
Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati
Via E. Fermi 40
00044 Frascati
Description
Nuclear physics play a a fundamental role in astrophysics and astroparticle physics. In fact, the nuclear processes regulate the solar neutrino luminosity, determine the evolution of celestial bodies, fix the abundance of light elements generated in the Big Bang nucleosynthesis. At energies of interest in astrophysics (10 keV<E<1 MeV$) the cross-section drops almost exponentially with decreasing energy E, because of the repulsion of the charged nuclei. As a consequence, direct measurements at earth surface are severely hampered by the cosmic ray induced background. In order to reduce the cosmic ray background, the LUNA collaboration has carried out its measurements underground, at the "Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso" (LNGS). The "Gran Sasso" mountain provides a natural shielding which reduces the muon and neutron fluxes by a factor 10^6 and 10^3, respectively. The suppression of the cosmic ray induced background also allows the suppression of the gamma-ray activity by a factor 10^2-10^5, depending on the photon energy. In this seminar the impact of LUNA experiment in the physics of the Sun, in the neutrino Physics, In the evolution of celestial bodies and in the Big Bang Theory is reviewed. The possibility of new underground measurement, based on the use of a new accelerator of 4 MeV, is also discussed.