Conveners
Nuclear Astrophysics II
- Alessandro Roggero (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)
Nuclear Astrophysics II
- Massimo Mannarelli (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)
I will discuss nuclear processes that are relevant for energy production in the Sun and solar-like stars and for the synthesis of light elements in the Early Universe. Special emphasis will be given to the relevance of nuclear reactions for understanding the Sun and for correct inference of solar properties from solar neutrino flux measurements.
An accurate understanding of the slowest reaction of the CNO cycle, the $^{14}$N(p,$\gamma$)$^{15}$O, is essential for estimating the lifetimes of massive stars and globular clusters. Additionally, it plays a crucial role in determining the CNO neutrino flux emitted by the Sun. Despite the significant efforts over the years, including pioneering underground measurements made by the LUNA...
Cross-sections for neutron-induced interactions with molybdenum, in particular for the neutron capture reaction, play a significant role in various fields ranging from nuclear astrophysics to safety assessment of conventional nuclear power plants and the development of innovative technologies. Molybdenum is found in pre-solar silicon carbide (SiC) grains and an accurate knowledge of its...
The properties of the nuclear equation of state (EOS) of dense matter have a dramatic impact on the dynamics in mergers of binary neutron stars (BNS), with profound implications on the emission of gravitational waves (GWs) and the ejection of matter in the merger and post-merger phases. It is thus a topic of high interest for multi-messenger astronomy. A variety of nuclear EOSs are available...
The Gran Sasso massif provides a natural shield against cosmic rays, allowing several precision measurements of nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest at the LUNA accelerator facility. In the last years several key reactions of NeNa cycle in AGB (Asymptotic Giant Branch) stars, novae and supernovae, have been studied. The
$^{20}Ne\left(p,\gamma\right)^{21}Na$ is the slowest reaction in...
PANDORA (Plasmas for Astrophysics, Nuclear Decay Observations and Radiation for Archaeometry) is an upcoming facility at INFN - LNS aiming to use an electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) as a magnetoplasma trap to measure $\beta$-decay rates of radioisotopes in certain electron density and temperature ranges [1]. Decay rates $\lambda$ are susceptible to changes in atomic...
Binary neutron star (BNS) mergers are among the most intriguing events known in the universe, with impressive scientific potential spanning many different research fields in physics and astrophysics. On August 2017, the detection of the gravitational-wave GW170817 signal with the corresponding electromagnetic counterpart confirmed that heavy elements such as lanthanides and actinides can be...
The understanding of stellar structure and evolution is strictly related to the possibility of energy production in a star. Indeed, nuclear processes generate the energy that makes stars shine. The same nuclear processes in stars are responsible for the synthesis of the elements. The theory of this building of elements is called nucleosynthesis and it is remarkably successful in predicting how...
Motivated by theoretical inquiries into the effective capture of dark matter by neutron stars, this study delves into the potential indirect impacts of captured dark matter on the cooling process of a neutron star. Utilizing the relativistic mean-field formalism with the IOPB-I parameter set, we derive the equation of states for various configurations of dark matter-admixed stars at finite...
The reaction 22Ne(α,γ)26Mg is associated with several open questions in nuclear astrophysics and plays a crucial role in constraining stellar models. Among other scenarios, it is pivotal in the creation of elements heavier than iron. A reliable evaluation of the stellar reaction rate at the energy of astrophysical interest must consider all the possible excited states of the compound nucleus...
Glitches, spin-up events in neutron stars, are of prime interest as they reveal properties of nuclear matter at subnuclear densities. We numerically investigate the glitch mechanism due to vortex unpinning using analogies between neutron stars and dipolar supersolids. We explore the vortex and crystal dynamics during a glitch and its dependence on the supersolid quality, providing a tool to...
At the extreme densities reached in the core of neutron stars and related astrophysical phenomena, deconfined quark matter might take place. The formation of this new phase of strongly interacting matter is likely to occur via a first-order phase transition for the typical temperatures reached in astrophysical processes. The first seeds of quark matter would form through a process of...
