Nuclear physics of stars

Thermonuclear reactions in stars is a major topic in the field of nuclear astrophysics, and deals with the topics of how precisely stars generate their energy through nuclear reactions, and how these nuclear reactions create the elements the stars, planets and - ultimately - we humans consist of. The present book treats these topics in detail. It also presents the nuclear reaction and structure theory, thermonuclear reaction rate formalism and stellar nucleosynthesis. The topics are discussed in a coherent way, enabling the reader to grasp their interconnections intuitively. The book serves both as a textbook, with many examples and end-of-chapter exercises, but also as a reference book for use by researchers working in the field of nuclear astrophysics

1. INTRODUCTION. 2. NUCLEAR REACTIONS. 2.1 Cross sections. 2.2 Elastic scattering and method of partial waves. 2.3 Scattering by potentials. 2.4 Theory of resonances. 3. NUCLEAR STRUCTURE. 3.1 Bound state potential. 3.2 Shell-model. 3.3 Excitation energies. 3.4 Spectroscopic factors. 4. THERMONUCLEAR REACTIONS. 4.1 Nuclear masses, energies and abundances. 4.2 Cross sections and reaction rates. 4.3 Non-resonant and resonant thermonuclear reaction rates. 4.4 Electron screening. 5. NUCLEAR BURNING STAGES AND NUCLEOSYNTHESIS. 5.1 General aspects. 5.2 Hydrostatic hydrogen burning. 5.3 Explosive hydrogen burning. 5.4 Hydrostatic helium burning. 5.5 Advanced burning stages. 5.6. s-process. 5.7 r-process. 6. NUCLEAR PHYSICS EXPERIMENTS. 6.1 General aspects. 6.2 Interaction of radiation with matter. 6.3 Targets and related equipment. 6.4 Detectors. 6.5 Nuclear spectroscopy. 6.6 Background radiation . 6.7 Yields and cross sections. 6.8 Angular correlations. 7. APPENDIX. 7.1 Kinematics. 7.2 Schroedinger equation in three dimensions. 7.3 Angular momentum vector addition. 7.4 Compilation of reaction rates.