Nuclear Reactions of Astrophysical Interest Involving Light Nuclei

Original · EN

An introduction to nucleosynthesis, the creation of the elements in the big bang, in interstellar matter and in stars is given. The two--step process ⁴He(2n,γ)⁶He and the reverse photodisintegration ⁶He(γ,2n)⁴He involving the halo nucleus ⁶He could be of importance in the α--process in type--II supernovae. The reaction rates for the above processes are calculated using three--body methods and show an enhancement of more than three orders of magnitude compared to the previous adopted value. Direct--capture calculations give similar values for the above reaction rates. Therefore, this method was also used to calculate the reaction rates of the two--step processes ⁶He(2n,γ)⁸He and ⁹Li(2n,γ)¹¹Li and the reverse photodisintegration of ⁸He and ¹¹Li that could be also of importance in the α-process.