The Bellotti Ion Beam Facility (IBF) [1] is located in the deep underground site of INFN-Laboratori del Gran Sasso (LNGS), Italy. The facility is named in honor of Enrico Bellotti, the first director of the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), Italy, who initiated the first installation of an underground accelerator for the study of nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest, following...
The IBS Center for Exotic Nuclear Studies (CENS) in Korea has a dedicated nuclear astrophysics group conducting experiments with both radioactive isotope (RI) and stable beams. The low-energy accelerator of the RI beam facility RAON is now in operation. The experimental facility KoBRA will utilize 20–30 MeV/u beams from the low-energy accelerator and is expected to conduct nuclear astrophysics...
Neutron-capture reactions drive the formation of elements heavier than iron, occurring through both the slow (s-) process in low-mass AGB and massive stars, and the rapid (r-) process in explosive stellar environments. In the s-process mechanism, unstable branching isotopes serve as unique tracers, offering crucial insights into the physical conditions and intricate details of stellar...
Heavy element synthesis in explosive stellar environments, such as core-collapse supernovae, is influenced by key nuclear reactions involving unstable nuclei. In neutron-rich conditions, the $\alpha$-process, which involves a sequence of ($\alpha$,xn) reactions, plays a significant part in nucleosynthesis, whereas (p,n) reactions influence element formation during explosive silicon burning and...
Storage of freshly produced secondary particles in a storage ring is a straightforward way to achieve the most efficient use of the rare species as it allows for using the same secondary ion multiple times. Employing storage rings for precision physics experiments with highly-charged ions (HCI) at the intersection of atomic, nuclear, plasma and astrophysics is a rapidly developing field of...
The K600 magnetic spectrometer and the CAKE silicon detector array form a powerful tool for coincidence measurements in many nuclear physics experiments including nuclear astrophysics. These instruments have been used, among others, in studies measuring proton decays from $\alpha$-unbound states in $^{22}$Mg through the $^{24}$Mg$(p,t)$$^{22}$Mg reaction to study the...
In stellar evolution, the carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) ratio at the end of He burning is a crucial parameter, which in turn is strongly influenced by the $^{12}\text{C}(\alpha, \gamma)^{16}\text{O}$ reaction rate. Accurate extrapolation of experimentally measurable cross sections to stellar conditions requires the determination of the E1 and E2 capture amplitudes in the fundamental state of...
The thermodynamic conditions of plasma density, temperature, pressure, and the neutron density during the implosion of a deuterium-tritium (DT)-filled capsule by laser-induced inertial confinement at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) constitute a unique stellar-like laboratory environment. In this study, we investigated neutron-induced reactions on Ar seeds added to the DT capsule,...
