Nuclear physics in the cosmos

Abstract

We observe photons and neutrinos from stars. Based on these observations, complemented by measurements of cosmic rays energies and composition, we have been able to constrain several models for the Big Bang and for stellar evolution. But that is not enough. We also need to help this effort with laboratory experiments. We are still far from being able to reproduce stellar environments in a terrestrial laboratory. But in many cases we can obtain accurate nuclear reaction rates needed for modeling primordial nucleosynthesis and hydrostatic burning in stars. The relevant reactions are difficult to measure directly in the laboratory at the small astrophysical energies. In recent years indirect reaction methods have been developed and applied to extract low-energy astrophysical S-factors. These methods require a combination of new experimental techniques and theoretical efforts, which are the subject of this review.