Eur. Phys. J. A (2016) 52: 75
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2016-16075-4

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Shell and explosive hydrogen burning

Nuclear reaction rates for hydrogen burning in RGB, AGB and Novae

¹ Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila, Italy
² SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
³ Dipartimento di Fisica Università di Genova, and INFN Sezione di Genova, Genova, Italy
⁴ INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Collurania, Teramo, Italy
⁵ INFN Sezione di Napoli, Napoli, Italy
⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia Università di Padova, Padova, Italy
⁷ INFN Sezione di Padova, Padova, Italy
⁸ Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica Università di Napoli Federico II, Napoli, Italy
¹⁰ Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica Seconda Università di Napoli, Caserta, Italy

^* e-mail: gianluca.imbriani@unina.it

Received: 31 July 2015
Accepted: 29 December 2015
Published online: 5 April 2016

Abstract

The nucleosynthesis of light elements, from helium up to silicon, mainly occurs in Red Giant and Asymptotic Giant Branch stars and Novae. The relative abundances of the synthesized nuclides critically depend on the rates of the nuclear processes involved, often through non-trivial reaction chains, combined with complex mixing mechanisms. In this paper, we summarize the contributions made by LUNA experiments in furthering our understanding of nuclear reaction rates necessary for modeling nucleosynthesis in AGB stars and Novae explosions.