Nuclear clusters as the first stepping stones for the chemical evolution of the universe

It is a well-established fact that the generation of the heavy elements occurred in stars—the Cauldrons of the Cosmos—via multiple complex nuclear reaction processes during stellar life and death. This paper will address the question of the first step, the formation of heavier elements such as carbo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The European physical journal. A, Hadrons and nuclei Hadrons and nuclei, 2021, Vol.57 (1), Article 24
Main Authors: Wiescher, Michael, Clarkson, Ondrea, deBoer, Richard J., Denisenkov, Pavel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical evolution
Cluster Structure and Dynamics of Nuclei - A Tribute to Mahir Hussein
Clustering
Hadrons
Heavy elements
Heavy Ions
Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear Physics
Nuclear reactions
Particle and Nuclear Physics
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Regular Article – Theoretical Physics
Stars
Stellar evolution
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Summary:It is a well-established fact that the generation of the heavy elements occurred in stars—the Cauldrons of the Cosmos—via multiple complex nuclear reaction processes during stellar life and death. This paper will address the question of the first step, the formation of heavier elements such as carbon and oxygen from the primordial elemental abundance distribution in first stars. This nucleosynthesis can be facilitated by nuclear clustering of primordial isotopes in hot and highly convective first stars, provided that a helium rich or hydrogen depleted environment is available. The paper will summarize the associated nuclear reactions and the nucleosynthesis paths linking 4 He to 12 C. This will be based on an analysis of new experimental data for several of the anticipated nuclear reactions, and the role they might play at different temperature and density conditions in first star matter.
ISSN:1434-6001
1434-601X
DOI:10.1140/epja/s10050-020-00339-x