Nuclear Astrophysics: from Stars to Nuclei

The talk is focused on the interplay between astrophysics and nuclear physics, which is called “nuclear astrophysics”. I give an introduction about the way Stars are born and how different Stars evolve. I show that nuclear reactions play a central role in the star evolution: they produce the energy released by the stars, and determine the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements.

I present the different stages of nucleosynthesis, starting from elements created after the Big-Bang, to the different reaction cycles occurring in the star evolution, and to explosive events such as Supernovae. I show that nuclear reactions relevant for astrophysics are difficult to study in the laboratory. However, recent technological progresses have provided us with many new data, in particular about reactions involving radioactive nuclei.

The development of new facilities and of new theoretical models is a challenge for the future.  This challenge also concerns nuclear physics. The development of radioactive beams in the last two decades has revealed fascinating properties of nuclei, such as the existence of a halo in nuclei far from stability. These exotic nuclei are being investigated both by experimentalists and by theorists.

The USP is contributing to this endeavour using the RIBRAS facility, brought to the Nuclear Physics Department of USP by Mahir Hussein (coordinator of the Astrophysics Group at the IEA), and under the leadership of Alinka Lepine and Rubens Lichtenthäler (both members of Hussein's Astrophysics Group). I show recent results important for nuclear physics as well as for nuclear astrophysics.

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