Fine-tuning the basic forces of nature through the triple-alpha process in red giant stars

Abstract

We show that the synthesis of carbon and oxygen through the triple-alpha process in red giant stars is extremely sensitive to the fine details of the nucleon-nucleon (N-N) interaction. A +/-0.5% change in the strength of the N-N force would reduce either the carbon or oxygen abundance by as much as a factor of 30-1000. This result may be used to constrain some fundamental parameters of the Standard Model.

3 pages with 2 figures. Proceedings of the Nuclei in the Cosmos Conference, Aarhus, Denmark, June 27-July 1, 2000. To be published in Nuclear Physics A. The postscript file and more information are available at http://matrix.elte.hu/~csoto http://info.tuwien.ac.at/e142/ and http://www.MPA-Garching.MPG.DE/~schlattl/

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