Great progress has been made regarding our understanding of heavy-element nucleosynthesis in recent years. In particular, the 2017 discovery of a neutron-star merger with its kilonova confirmed that such astrophysical sites can produce heavy elements through the rapid neutron-capture process. At the same time, as more and more high-quality observations become available, the heavy-element...
Neutron-induced reaction cross sections of short-lived nuclei are essential in astrophysics. In particular, neutron-induced fission cross sections are essential as fission sets the end of the r-process path and influences the abundance patterns and light curves. However, these cross sections are very difficult or impossible to measure due to the difficulty to produce and handle the necessary...
The synthesis of heavy elements such as gold and uranium remains one of the profound mysteries in astrophysics. These elements are believed to form through rapid neutron capture reactions (r-process) occurring in extreme astrophysical environments. To unravel this process, it is crucial to understand the properties of thousands of neutron-rich nuclei (Ris) produced during r-process...
The rapid neutron capture process, r-process, is responsible for the production of more than half of the elements heavier than iron. However, the physical conditions and astronomical sites of the r-process have not yet been determined. One key issue is the lack of experimental data on the properties of involved exotic nuclei, partly due to the difficulty of measuring neutron capture reactions...
Neutron capture cross sections are one of the key input parameters for an accurate description of the slow (s) process of stellar nucleosynthesis, which is responsible for the production of about half of the elemental solar abundances between Fe and Bi in AGB stars [1]. In this contribution we will present the results of the measurement of the capture cross section of the thallium isotopes...
The LUNA (Laboratory for Nuclear Astrophysics) collaboration has a long and successful history in measuring the cross sections of astrophysically important reactions in a deep underground location at LNGS, Italy. In addition to the very prolific LUNA-II 400 keV accelerator, the collaboration has an extensive program on the recently launched Bellotti Ion Beam Facility (BIBF), which is based on...
The $^{16}$O(p,$\gamma$)$^{17}$F reaction is the slowest proton-induced reaction in the CNO cycle because at energies of astrophysical interest it has no resonances, making it an example of a pure direct capture reaction. The ratio of $^{16}$O/$^{17}$O in AGB stars depends strongly on the rate of this reaction. This ratio is an important probe of nucleosynthesis and mixing processes in the...
The carbon-carbon fusion reaction serves as a crucial reaction for stellar evolution and explosive events, significantly influencing the evolution of massive stars and the explosion of superburst in the Universe. Despite decades of research, there remains considerable uncertainty in the cross section, particularly at stellar energies below E_{C.M.}=3MeV. The extrapolation techniques cannot...
Globular clusters represent fascinating puzzles for understanding stellar evolution and early galaxy formation. Anticorrelations between Mg and K have been observed in a small number of globular clusters, foremost of which is NGC 2419. It has been shown that the observed abundances of Mg and K were likely produced in a progenitor object, before the current generation of stars. The...
