Abstract
Were it not for the presence of an excited state of 12C at 7.6 MeV, at the endpoint of the triple-alpha reaction, it would be difficult for stars to manufacture carbon and heavier elements. Calculations using modified triple-alpha rates test the sensitivity of stellar nucleosynthesis to the exact position of this excited state, and allow an empirical assessment of its importance in the anthropic principle in cosmology.
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Livio, M., Hollowell, D., Weiss, A. et al. The anthropic significance of the existence of an excited state of 12C. Nature 340, 281–284 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/340281a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/340281a0
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