Nuclear reactions in stellar helium burning and later hydrostatic burning stages

Abstract

We review in some detail, the so-called triple- α process and the reaction 12C( α , γ ) 16O that follow core hydrogen burning and produce most of the universal abundances of 12C and 16O, including considerable new and previously unpublished work. We also review briefly, for reasons of length, some of the principal nuclear reactions involved in carbon burning, neon burning, oxygen burning, the reactions generally grouped under the title silicon burning, and the helium-induced reactions that produce neutrons to build the s-process nuclei.