[Bubble] Nuclear processes in Astrophysics: Recent progress

[Jay Benesch]

Skimming the first couple of pages, this looks like a nice review to 
cite in a future paper.


https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.10183

Nuclear processes in Astrophysics: Recent progress
V. Liccardo, M. Malheiro, M. S. Hussein, T. Frederico
(Submitted on 25 May 2018)

     The origin of the elements has been a fascinating question that 
scientists have been trying to answer for the last seven decades. The 
formation of light elements in the primordial universe and heavier 
elements in the astrophysical sources occurs through nuclear reactions. 
We can say that nuclear processes are responsible for the production of 
energy and synthesis of elements in the various astrophysical sites. 
Thus, nuclear reactions have a determining role in the existence and 
evolution of several astrophysical environments, from the Sun to the 
spectacular explosions of supernovae. Nuclear astrophysics attempts to 
address the most basic and important questions of our existence and 
future. There are still many issues that are unresolved such as, how 
stars and our Galaxy have formed and how they evolve, how and where are 
the heaviest elements made, what is the abundance of nuclei in the 
universe and what is the nucleosynthesis output of the various 
production processes, why the amount of Lithium-7 observed is less than 
predicted. In this paper, we review our current understanding of the 
different astrophysical nuclear processes leading to the formation of 
chemical elements and particular attention is paid to the formation of 
heavy elements occurring during high-energy astrophysical events. Thanks 
to the recent multi-messenger observation of a binary neutron star 
merger, which also confirmed production of heavy elements, explosive 
scenarios such as short Gamma-ray bursts and the following Kilonovae are 
now strongly supported as nucleosynthesis sites.

Comments: 	29 pages, 9 figures
Subjects: 	Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR); Nuclear 
Experiment (nucl-ex); Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
Cite as: 	arXiv:1805.10183 [astro-ph.SR]