18 February 2020Fusion reactions at low energies and nucleosynthesis in massive stars

Sandrine COURTIN
IPHC Strasbourg

Nuclear fusion is the dominant process occuring in ion-ion collisions at moderate and low bombarding energies. It has been widely explored for medium-heavy to light nuclear systems. Fusion reactions involving 12C, and to a smaller extend 16O, may play a major role in the evolution scenarios of massive stars, where they are routes to produce heavier elements. These reactions take place at high temperatures in explosive stages of the stars, which nevertheless correspond to low nuclear physics energies. At these energies, cross-sections are extremely small making each experimental investigation a real challenge. I will present the state-of-the-art of the study of the 12C+12C subbarrier fusion reaction, as well as new experiments at the horizon, aiming at measuring this process probabilities at stellar energies, and thus constraint calculations of the astrophysical reaction rates.