https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-025-01759-3
Review
The status of 
C+C fusion process
1
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica—Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133, Rome, Italy
2
INFN. Sezione di Perugia, Via A. Pascoli s/n, 06125, Perugia, Italy
3
Monash Centre for Astrophysics (MoCA), School of Mathematical Sciences, Monash University, 3800, Victoria, Australia
4
Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, 67000, Strasbourg, France
5
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Notre Dame, 46556, Notre Dame, IA, USA
6
Universitá degli Studi di Milano, Via G. Celoria 16, 20133, Milan, Italy
7
INFN, Sezione di Milano, Via G. Celoria 16, 20133, Milan, Italy
8
Department of Physics, University of Surrey, GU2 7XH, Guildford, England, UK
9
Universita degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Dipartimento di Fisica “E. Pancini”, Via Cintia, 80126, Naples, Italy
10
INFN, Sezione di Napoli, Via Cintia, 80126, Naples, Italy
11
INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Via Giovanni Acitelli 22, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
12
Gran Sasso Science Institute, Viale Francesco Crispi 7, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
13
INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Via S. Sofia 62, 95123, Catania, Italy
14
Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Architettura, Università degli Studi di Enna “Kore”, Cittadella Universitaria, Enna, Italy
15
Konkoly Observatory, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, HUN-REN, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15-17, 1121, Budapest, Hungary
16
CSFK HUN-REN, MTA Centre of Excellence, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15-17, 1121, Budapest, Hungary
17
Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania
18
Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 509 Nanchang Rd., 730000, Lanzhou, China
19
Joint department of nuclear physics, Lanzhou University and Institute of Modern Physics, 730000, Lanzhou, China
Received:
14
January
2025
Accepted:
23
November
2025
Published online:
11
December
2025
This review summarizes the state of knowledge of the C+C fusion reaction and its impact on stellar carbon burning environments.
© The Author(s) 2025
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