LUNA: a Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics

Abstract

It is in the nature of astrophysics that many of the processes and objects one tries to understand are physically inaccessible. Thus, it is important that those aspects that can be studied in the laboratory be rather well understood. One such aspect are the nuclear fusion reactions, which are at the heart of nuclear astrophysics. They influence sensitively the nucleosynthesis of the elements in the earliest stages of the universe and in all the objects formed thereafter, and control the associated energy generation, neutrino luminosity, and evolution of stars. We review an experimental approach for the study of nuclear fusion reactions based on an underground accelerator laboratory, named LUNA.

Invited Review; accepted for publication in Reports on Progress in Physics; 26 pages; 27 figures

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• Feasibility of low energy radiative capture experiments at the LUNA underground accelerator facility
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• The ${}^{14}N(p,\gamma {)}^{15}O$ reaction, solar neutrinos and the age of the globular clusters
• Image Reconstruction of COMPTEL 1.8 MeV 26Al Line Data
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• Muon Energy Estimate Through Multiple Scattering with the Macro Detector
• E0 emission in alpha + ^12C fusion at astrophysical energies

Cited by in corpus (41)

• Solar fusion cross sections II: the pp chain and CNO cycles
• The 12C(a,g)16O reaction and its implications for stellar helium burning
• A unique model for the variety of multiple populations formation(s) in globular clusters: a temporal sequence
• The Effects of Thermonuclear Reaction-Rate Variations on 26Al Production in Massive Stars: a Sensitivity Study
• LUNA: Nuclear Astrophysics Deep Underground
• The Branchings of the Main s-process: Their Sensitivity to alpha-induced Reactions on 13C and 22Ne and to the Uncertainties of the Nuclear Network
• Nuclear Physics of the Outer Layers of Accreting Neutron Stars
• The 25Mg(p,g)Al reaction at low astrophysical energies
• Improved Direct Measurement of the 64.5 keV Resonance Strength in the 17O(p,a)14N Reaction at LUNA
• Nuclear astrophysics: the unfinished quest for the origin of the elements
• Three new low-energy resonances in the ${}^{22}$Ne(p,$\gamma$)${}^{23}$Na reaction
• New determination of the 13C(a, n)16O reaction rate and its influence on the s-process nucleosynthesis in AGB stars
• Alive and well: a short review about standard solar models
• The Impact of Recent Advances in Laboratory Astrophysics on our Understanding of the Cosmos
• New experimental study of low-energy (p,gamma) resonances in magnesium isotopes
• First Direct Measurement of the ^{17}O(p,γ)^{18}F Reaction Cross-Section at Gamow Energies for Classical Novae
• Direct measurement of low-energy ${}^{22}$Ne(p,$\gamma$)${}^{23}$Na resonances
• The 14N(p,gamma)15O reaction studied with a composite germanium detector
• Preparation and characterisation of isotopically enriched Ta${}_2$O${}_5$ targets for nuclear astrophysics studies
• Horizons: Nuclear Astrophysics in the 2020s and Beyond
• How accurate are stellar ages based on stellar models ? I. The impact of stellar models uncertainties
• A new study of the ${}^{22}$Ne(p,$\gamma$)${}^{23}$Na reaction deep underground: Feasibility, setup, and first observation of the 186 keV resonance
• ${}^{22}$Ne and ${}^{23}$Na ejecta from intermediate-mass stars: The impact of the new LUNA rate for ${}^{22}$Ne(p,$\gamma$)${}^{23}$Na
• A high-efficiency gas target setup for underground experiments, and redetermination of the branching ratio of the 189.5 keV ${}^{22}\mathbf{Ne}(\mathbf{p},\gamma {)}^{23}\mathbf{Na}$ resonance
• Effects of nuclear cross sections on ${}^{19}$F nucleosynthesis at low metallicities
• Revision of the 15N(p,γ)16O reaction rate and oxygen abundance in H-burning zones
• An actively vetoed Clover gamma-detector for nuclear astrophysics at LUNA
• Constraining the S factor of 15N(p,g)16O at Astrophysical Energies
• Underground nuclear astrophysics: why and how
• Neutron-induced background by an alpha-beam incident on a deuterium gas target and its implications for the study of the 2H(alpha,gamma)6Li reaction at LUNA
• Impacts of the New Carbon Fusion Cross Sections on Type Ia Supernovae
• Massive Stars and their Supernovae
• Accelerating Earth-Bound Dark Matter
• Recent results in nuclear astrophysics
• New Theoretical Results for Radiative 3H(p, γ)4He, 3He(2H, γ)5Li, 4He(2H, γ)6Li, 4He(3H, γ)7Li, and 4He(3He, γ)7Be Captures At Astrophysical Energies
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• Experimental nuclear astrophysics in Italy
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• Nuclear astrophysics