Progress of Nuclear Astrophysics in China

Abstract

Nuclear astrophysics is an interdisciplinary research field. It composes of nuclear physics, which studies micro phenomena, and astrophysics which studies macroscopic phenomena in our world. The main research goals of nuclear astrophysics are:(1) how, when and where chemical elements are synthesized and what is their final abundance distribution in the universe; (2) how nuclear processes (reactions induced by charged particles, neutrons, photons and neutrinos, beta decays and electron capture processes) determine the evolution and the ultimate fate of stars. At present, nuclear astrophysics has been developed into a new prosperous stage with a huge number of experimental and theoretical progresses. This paper summarized the current progress of nuclear astrophysics in China, in the subfiels of direct and indirect measurement of key reactions, measurement of mass and decay, as well as the theoretical calculation and network simulation. In present paper, the prospects to solve the key scientific nuclear astrophysics problems are represented. These key problems include (1) direct measurement of important reactions at astrophysical energies in the laboratory on the earth surface and in the underground laboratory; (2)extrapolation of cross sections at higher energies for the reactions induced by charged particles; (3) indirect measurement of key reactions in the hydrostatic and explosive nuclear processes; (4) study of the mass, the properties of decay and resonant states for the nuclides far from the stability line in explosive astrophysical events; (5) establish and improve the database for nuclear astrophysics, and develop network simulation codes, and systematically study astrophysical sites and abundance distribution of nucleosynthesis; (6) origin of the elements heavier than iron in the universe.