LUNA: Nuclear Astrophysics Deep Underground

Abstract

Nuclear astrophysics strives for a comprehensive picture of the nuclear reactions responsible for synthesizing the chemical elements and for powering the stellar evolution engine. Deep underground in the Gran Sasso laboratory the cross sections of the key reactions of the proton-proton chain and of the Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen (CNO) cycle have been measured right down to the energies of astrophysical interest. The salient features of underground nuclear astrophysics are summarized here. The main results obtained by LUNA in the last twenty years are reviewed, and their influence on the comprehension of the properties of the neutrino, of the Sun and of the Universe itself are discussed. Future directions of underground nuclear astrophysics towards the study of helium and carbon burning and of stellar neutron sources in stars are pointed out.

Invited review, submitted to Annu. Rev. Nucl. Part. Science

References in corpus (40)

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• First direct measurement of the total cross section of 12C(alpha,gamma)16O
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• Nuclear Reaction Rates and Carbon Star Formation
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Cited by in corpus (35)

• Solar Neutrinos: Status and Prospects
• 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
• Three new low-energy resonances in the ${}^{22}$Ne(p,$\gamma$)${}^{23}$Na reaction
• The Future of Solar Neutrinos
• Alive and well: a short review about standard solar models
• The Impact of Recent Advances in Laboratory Astrophysics on our Understanding of the Cosmos
• 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
• Measurement of ${}^{19}$F($p$,$\gamma$)${}^{20}$Ne reaction suggests CNO break-out in first stars
• How accurate are stellar ages based on stellar models ? I. The impact of stellar models uncertainties
• ${}^{22}$Ne and ${}^{23}$Na ejecta from intermediate-mass stars: The impact of the new LUNA rate for ${}^{22}$Ne(p,$\gamma$)${}^{23}$Na
• A new study of the ${}^{22}$Ne(p,$\gamma$)${}^{23}$Na reaction deep underground: Feasibility, setup, and first observation of the 186 keV resonance
• 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
• Revision of the 15N(p,γ)16O reaction rate and oxygen abundance in H-burning zones
• 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
• Probing New Physics with Underground Accelerators and Radioactive Sources
• First direct limit on the 334 keV resonance strength in the ${}^{22}$Ne(α,γ)${}^{26}$Mg reaction
• Solar fusion III: New data and theory for hydrogen-burning stars
• First inverse kinematics study of the ${}^{22}$Ne$(p,\gamma {)}^{23}$Na reaction and its role in AGB star and classical nova nucleosynthesis
• Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the Helium Isotope Ratio
• Cosmic-ray induced background intercomparison with actively shielded HPGe detectors at underground locations
• Calculations of $p(n,\gamma )d$ reaction in chiral effective field theory
• Lithium fluoride (LiF) target preparation for nuclear physics experiment
• A new study of ${}^{25}$Mg($\alpha$,n)${}^{28}$Si angular distributions at $E_{\alpha }$ = 3 - 5 MeV
• The Felsenkeller shallow-underground laboratory for nuclear astrophysics
• Experimental nuclear astrophysics in Italy
• Determination of electron screening potential of 6 Li(p,α)3 He reaction using MultiLayer Perceptron based neural network
• Progress of the Felsenkeller shallow-underground accelerator for nuclear astrophysics
• Nuclear astrophysics
• Investigating the impact of Solar Fusion III reaction rates on helioseismic constraints and solar neutrino fluxes
• Theoretical calculation of nuclear reactions of interest for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Study of fusion reactions of light nuclei at low energies using complex nucleon-nucleus potential function