Quantum Dynamical Microscopic Approach to Stellar Carbon Burning

Abstract

The process of carbon burning is vital to understanding late stage stellar evolution of massive stars and the conditions of certain supernovae. Carbon burning is a complex problem, involving quantum tunnelling and nuclear molecular states. Quantum dynamical calculations of carbon burning are presented, combining the time-dependent wave-packet method and the density-constrained time-dependent Hartree-Fock (DC-TDHF) approach. By limiting the contribution of triaxial molecular configurations to fusion, we demonstrate that the DC-TDHF interaction potential successfully explains the appearance of some resonant structures in the sub-barrier fusion cross-section. This result shows the critical role of nucleon-nucleon interactions in the 12C + 12C fusion resonances observed at astrophysical energies.