Speaker
Description
Thermonuclear reaction rates are essential inputs for predictive models of stellar structure, evolution, explosions, and nucleosynthesis. In this talk, I will present a new evaluation of experimentally based thermonuclear rates for 78 proton- and alpha-induced reactions on target nuclei in the A<40 mass region. Building on earlier Monte-Carlo reaction-rate methods, the new evaluation applies modern statistical techniques, including Bayesian inference and Monte-Carlo sampling, to derive recommended rates and uncertainties with well-defined probabilistic meaning. The analysis incorporates experimental resonance strengths, indirect constraints on partial widths, nonresonant radiative-capture contributions, and high-temperature extrapolations where needed. For each reaction, rates are tabulated from 1 MK to 10 GK, together with fractional rate contributions and uncertainty estimates. The resulting laboratory-based rates provide a transparent and reproducible resource for uncertainty studies in nuclear astrophysics, while also highlighting where future measurements are needed to further improve stellar model predictions.
| Category | Theory |
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