Stars as thermonuclear reactors: their fuels and ashes

Abstract

Atomic nuclei are transformed into each other in the cosmos by nuclear reactions inside stars: -- the process of nucleosynthesis. The basic concepts of determining nuclear reaction rates inside stars and how they manage to burn their fuel so slowly most of the time are discussed. Thermonuclear reactions involving protons in the hydrostatic burning of hydrogen in stars are discussed first. This is followed by triple alpha reactions in the helium burning stage and the issues of survival of carbon and oxygen in red giant stars connected with nuclear structure of oxygen and neon. Advanced stages of nuclear burning in quiescent reactions involving carbon, neon, oxygen and silicon are discussed. The role of neutron induced reactions in nucleosynthesis beyond iron is discussed briefly, as also the experimental detection of neutrinos from SN 1987A which confirmed broadly the ideas concerning gravitational collapse leading to a supernova.