Nuclear astrophysics articles from across Nature Portfolio

Neutron stars contain matter at extremely high densities, the properties of which are reflected in the corresponding equation of state (EoS). Here, the authors argue that the inferred properties of the neutron-star-matter EoS point to the likely presence of deconfined quark matter in the cores of the most massive stable neutron stars.

The authors report a particle-particle correlation and velocity-difference profile method to measure nuclear lifetime. The results obtained for excited states of 23Mg are used to constrain the production of 22Na in the astrophysical novae explosions.

It is interesting and important to understand how the properties of nuclei and their stability change with temperature. Here the authors report their theoretical study of hot nuclei and the drip lines that limit the nuclear existence at finite temperature.

Rapid proton capture nucleosynthesis stalls at waiting-point nuclides, including ⁶⁴Ge. Precision mass measurements in the vicinity of this nuclide influence state-of-the-art calculations of X-ray bursts from accreting neutron stars.

Observation of a new resonance in the 19-fluorine to 20-neon thermonuclear reaction at the China JinPing Underground Laboratory (over 2 km below ground) may provide clues to observed discrepancies in calcium production in the evolution of the first stars.

Hubert Reeves, a most renowned astrophysicist for both his scientific accomplishments and outstanding outreach efforts, passed away on 13 October 2023.

Nuclear physics experiments give reaction rates that, via modelling and comparison with primordial abundances, constrain cosmological parameters. The error bars of a key reaction, D(p,γ)³He, were tightened in 2020, revealing discrepancies between different analyses and calling for more accurate measurements of other reactions.

Understanding the first few minutes of the Universe has been hampered by uncertainty in the cross section of the so-called deuterium burning process. A paper in Nature reports a much-improved cross section, putting models of the early Universe on firmer footing.

The cosmic origin of the heaviest elements in the periodic table remains a mystery. Estimates of the physical locations of element-producing events within small galaxies that formed in the early Universe are now providing new clues.

One of the fundamental radioactive decay modes of nuclei is β decay. Now, nuclear theorists have used first-principles simulations to explain nuclear β decay properties across a range of light- to medium-mass isotopes, up to ¹⁰⁰Sn.

Deep-sea sediments reveal the production sites of the heaviest chemical elements in the Universe to be neutron star mergers — rare events that eject large amounts of mass — and not core-collapse supernovae.