Nuclear astrophysics is a research area at the interface of nuclear physics and astrophysics that investigates how nuclear processes govern the origin, evolution, and observable properties of cosmic objects and matter. It focuses on nuclear reaction rates, decay schemes, and equation-of-state properties under astrophysical conditions, and applies them to models of stellar structure, nucleosynthesis, supernovae, compact objects, and the early universe. The field integrates laboratory measurements, theoretical nuclear structure and reaction calculations, and astronomical observations to constrain reaction networks and to interpret elemental and isotopic abundances, energy generation, and neutrino and gravitational-wave signals in astrophysical environments.
Debris is still raining down on Earth more than 100 million years after the giant cosmic explosion that created it. A study published this week in Nature Astronomy by an international team reached this conclusion using measurements ...
Astrobiology
Jun 15, 2026
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When a star dies, it generates an explosion of elemental nuclei and hurls them into space. Those elements, called cosmic rays, travel at nearly the speed of light, and eventually some of them encounter manmade detectors. ...
General Physics
Jun 13, 2026
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21
How are heavy elements formed in the universe? Extremely neutron-rich atomic nuclei and their beta-decay rates play an important role in this process. Until now, it has been very difficult to determine these rates experimentally. ...
General Physics
Jun 9, 2026
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11
Using a novel simulation model based on machine learning, an international research team at GSI/FAIR has succeeded in gaining a deeper understanding of element formation in stellar events such as neutron star mergers. For ...
Astronomy
Jun 8, 2026
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29
Despite being so elusive, neutrinos are produced in abundance in some of the most violent events in the universe. One of their strangest properties is that they can spontaneously switch between three types, or "flavors": ...
An international research team has achieved an important milestone for astrophysics at GSI/FAIR in Darmstadt: In the CRYRING@ESR storage ring, scientists were able to measure nuclear reactions at extremely low energies for ...
General Physics
Apr 30, 2026
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103
An international team led by Monash University has uncovered evidence of a rare form of exploding star, helping to shed light on one of the most cataclysmic events in the universe. At the end of their lives, most massive ...
Astronomy
Apr 1, 2026
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176
A Mississippi State physicist has produced a direct laboratory measurement of a key nuclear reaction believed to occur during explosive bursts on neutron stars. These bursts forge heavier elements—the building blocks of planets ...
Astronomy
Mar 31, 2026
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27
In the air people breathe, the water on Earth, the stars in the sky and more, atoms are the building blocks that make up the universe. Understanding the structure of the atomic nucleus is crucial for research with implications ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 31, 2026
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76
Thermonuclear reaction rates power the models that explain how stars live, explode and create the elements. A new study co-authored by NC State faculty member Richard Longland provides a comprehensive, statistically grounded ...
Astronomy
Mar 16, 2026
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