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Kabita Kundalia (ELI-NP /IFIN-HH)
The reaction $^{11}$B$(p,\alpha)\alpha\alpha$ is the primary mechanism for $^{11}$B burning in the stellar environment, which makes it a reaction of interest in nuclear astrophysics. Additionally, this fusion reaction is also relevant in nuclear fusion reactor development, promising clean energy and relatively simplified reactor engineering. The present work focuses on the cross section...
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Guilherme Grams (University of Potsdam)
Describing nuclear matter across the extreme range of densities, temperatures, and isospin asymmetries encountered in astrophysical environments remains a challenge. This is particularly critical for binary neutron star mergers, where both dense matter and clusterized low-density phases influence observable signals. In addition, r-process nucleosynthesis in the ejecta requires reliable nuclear...
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Prof. Marialuisa Aliotta (University of Edinburgh)
The onset of the CNO cycle in Population III stars requires the production of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen nuclei in an environment initially devoid of metals. Among the proposed mechanisms, α-induced reactions on light nuclei such as boron and lithium may provide a pathway for the synthesis of CNO material from primordial hydrogen and helium [1].
The corresponding reaction rates remain...
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A. Gavrilescu (IFIN-HH/ELI-NP)
Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are among the most energetic particles
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observed in nature, yet their origin and propagation through extragalactic space
remain open questions. In order to understand the propagation, it is necessary to
study how the UHECR nuclei interact electromagnetically with the Cosmic Microwave
Background via the electric dipole (E1) response which dominates the... -
Simon Vincent
The German center for astrophysics (DZA, Deutsches Zentrum für Astrophysik) plans to build, among other projects, a 200m deep underground facility. The facility is called the Low Seismic Lab (LSL) and will be placed in Lusatia, at a precise location still to be determined. Here we report on studies relevant to future nuclear and astroparticle experiments in LSL, in order to estimate the...
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taoyu jiao (HUN-REN CSFK)
The $^{13}$C($\alpha,$n$)^{16}$O reaction is the primary neutron source for the stellar slow neutron-capture (s-) process and also plays an important role in intermediate (i-) process nucleosynthesis. Due to the extremely small cross sections at astrophysical energies and the overwhelming cosmic-ray–induced background in surface laboratories, direct measurements remain highly challenging....
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Eugene Oks (Auburn University, USA)
The lifetime of free neutrons was a long-standing puzzle: in the beam experiments it significantly exceeded the corresponding result from the trap experiments – far beyond the error margins. While the results of the trap experiments were based on counting neutrons, the results of the beam experiments were based on counting protons stemming from the 3-body decay of a neutron into a free proton...
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Francisco Geraldes Barba (LIP - Laboratory of Instrumentation and Experimental Particle Physics)
The production of heavy elements in the universe is mainly dominated by neutron capture processes. However, some of the nuclei cannot be produced via this path. It is believed that one of the processes that produces heavy p-nuclei is governed by photodisintegration of s-process seed nuclei via ($\gamma$,n), ($\gamma$,p) and ($\gamma$,$\alpha$) reactions. Systematic studies have shown that one...
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ani aprahamian (University of Notre Dame)
Over 99.9 percent of the baryonic mass of all the universe comes from the nuclei at the center of every atom. These nuclei are made of protons and neutrons that themselves formed a few microseconds after the big bang as the primordial quark-gluon plasma cooled and condensed. Approximately three minutes after the Big Bang, the abundances of the primordial elements in the universe include...
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Lorenzo Roberti
Carbon-oxygen (C-O) shell mergers in the late evolutionary stages of massive stars play a crucial role in determining their final fate and have a significant impact on the pre-supernova and explosive nucleosynthesis. In this talk, I will explore the complex dynamics within C-O shells, and how these interactions drive the production of intermediate and heavy elements. In particular I will...
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Kamil Sokołowski (Wrocław University of Science and Technology)
Neutrinos and their weak interactions play a vital role in the physics of core-collapse supernovae and binary neutron star mergers. Their description within astrophysical simulations, including the weak rates, is of crucial importance for the prediction of accurate neutrino fluxes and spectra. In my talk, I will introduce the charged-current weak rates treating the nuclear component at the...
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Andreas Flörs (GSI Helmholtz Centre For Heavy Ion Research)
Recent infrared observations obtained with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have significantly advanced the study of kilonovae, delivering the first detailed nebular-phase spectra of AT 2023vfi, only the second kilonova to be observed spectroscopically. The spectra exhibit prominent mid-infrared emission features, some of which have been tentatively linked to r-process elements such as...
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Andreas Bauswein
The importance of GW170817 for equation of state constraints was immediately obvious after the event with various ideas that were proposed to learn about the properties of high-density matter. Recently, we proposed another method that leads to interesting constraints on the properties of neutron stars and the merger remnant. This is based on the consideration of the helium content in the...
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Nathan Giha (IJCLab)
Observation of the 1.809-MeV $\gamma$ ray from $^{26}$Al decay ($T_{1/2} = 7.17\times10^5$ yr) in our galaxy evinces that nucleosynthesis is currently ongoing. $^{26}$Al is produced in a variety of stellar sites, including classical novae. For the temperatures reached in classical novae, an alternative $^{26}$Al production pathway exists via the...
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Roland Diehl (MPE Garching and TU Munich)
Nucleosynthesis from cosmic sources is encoded in the variety of isotopes, some of which we can observe today. Space-based gamma-ray telescopes have observed nuclear emission from freshly-produced and unstable isotopes as they decay in interstellar space. Short-lived 56Ni and 44Ti has been measured in supernovae, and help understand the complexity of launching a supernova, for the...
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Zsolt Matyus (HUN-REN Institute for Nuclear Research)
Among the proton-rich nuclei there are a few dozen which cannot be produced by the s- and r-process. These nuclei, called p-nuclei, are synthesized by the γ-process. This process involves a complex reaction network of about 20000 reactions, simulations are the only feasible method to determine the final isotopic abundances. The γ-process mainly occurs in explosive events such as Type Ia...
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Jakub Skowronski (Università degli Studi di Padova and INFN Padova)
The Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics (LUNA), located in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, has been at the forefront of measuring key nuclear reactions at astrophysical energies for over three decades. The ultra-low background environment of the underground site, combined with high-current accelerators and efficient detection systems, has enabled LUNA to provide direct...
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Pelagia Tsintari (Facility for Rare Isotope Beams)
Charged-particle reactions play a critical role in nucleosynthesis in slightly neutron-rich, neutrino-driven winds from core-collapse supernovae, where the reaction flow proceeds near stability and β-decays are too slow to efficiently drive matter to heavier nuclei. In this regime, (α,n) reactions are key to the production of elements in the Z ≈ 38–47 region, which are commonly observed in...
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Itay Goldberg (Hebrew University)
The neutron-capture cross section of $^{140}\mathrm{Ce}$ plays an important role in s-process nucleosynthesis due to its neutron-magic character and correspondingly low capture probability. It has been suggested as a possible origin of the discrepancy between predicted and observed stellar cerium abundances, which has motivated recent experimental efforts to re-evaluate the...
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Dr Heinrich Wilsenach (The Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel)
In neutron-rich astrophysical environments, independent isotopic fission yields (IIFYs) of heavy progenitors are fundamental for shaping the r-process abundance pattern, as they directly determine the isotopic distribution in the rare-earth and second-peak regions via fission recycling. Since experimental data for heavy fissioning systems relevant to the r-process are largely unavailable,...
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Ms Cosmina Nedelcu (UNSTPB/ELI-NP)
In nuclear astrophysics, the critical influence of nuclear level density (NLD) on cross-sections and reaction rates has been well established. However, the specific NLD energy range with the most significant impact on the calculations remains unclear. To investigate this, the energy range of the NLD with the most significant effect is identified for different types of reactions relevant to...
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Agnese Falla
Population III (Pop III) stars are the first generation of stars formed in the Universe from the collapse of pristine gas emerged from the Big Bang. Since this gas was composed only of H and He, with minor traces of D, Li, Be, and B, these stars evolved as metal-free structures, following very different evolution compared to stars in the local Universe. Since they were responsible for the...
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Thomas Chillery (University of Naples)
Around half the elements heavier than iron originate from the astrophysical slow neutron-capture (s-) process. This mechanism occurs within the stellar environments of asymptotic giant branch and massive stars, where the endothermic 22Ne(α,n)25Mg reaction is one of the main sources of neutrons. This reaction competes with 22Ne(α,γ)26Mg across the astrophysical temperature regime 150 – 300 MK...
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Honey Arora (CENS, IBS)
40K is the main isotope responsible for radiogenic heating of the mantle in Earth-like exoplanets during the preliminary stages of their formation. The high levels of 40K typically found in the interiors of exoplanets are from the events that enriched interstellar gas clouds such as supernovae explosions. These supernovae develop from the massive stars which are part of a large clusters. The...
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Iryna Timchenko (Institute of Physics Slovak Academy of Sciences, NSC Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kharkiv, Ukraine)
The synthesis of elements heavier than iron occurs primarily through the (n,$\gamma$) reactions [1]. However, processes of the “rapid” ($r$-) and “slow” ($s$-) radiative neutron capture cannot produce 35 proton-rich stable nuclei known as the $p$-nuclei. The production of these chemical elements is referred to in astrophysics as the $p$-process [2]. The description of the $p$-process mechanism...
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Dr Nicholas de Sereville (IJCLab, France)
Type I X-ray bursts and classical novae are thermonuclear explosions occurring on the surface of accreting compact objects, neutron stars and white dwarfs, in close binary systems. Interpreting their observational signatures, including light curves for X-ray bursts and elemental and isotopic abundances for classical novae, requires precise knowledge of the underlying nuclear physics. I will...
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Teodora Petruse (Extrem Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics / IFIN-HH)
The origin of the rare proton-rich p-nuclei remains an open question in nuclear astrophysics. Since they are not efficiently produced by the s- and r-processes, they are thought to form mainly through photodisintegration of heavier seed nuclei in explosive stellar environments. A key uncertainty in p-process models comes from poorly constrained reaction rates. Since experimental data are...
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Prof. Dennis Muecher (University of Cologne)
Neutron capture rates during the freeze-out phase of the astrophysical r process critically shape the final abundance distribution of heavy elements. For neutron-rich nuclei relevant to the r process, these rates remain largely unconstrained — direct measurements are experimentally inaccessible, and theoretical descriptions carry substantial uncertainties. In this contribution we present...
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Enakshi Senapati (Department of Physics, Bankura University, W.B., India)
Thermal motion and thermodynamic properties of nuclei influence nucleosynthesis in stellar environments. Precise knowledge of level density, a characteristic property of many-body quantum mechanical systems, is an important prerequisite for thermodynamic studies of atomic nuclei and consequently for the calculation of thermonuclear rates in astrophysical processes. In macroscopic conductors,...
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Jordi Jose (UPC Barcelona)
Novae and X-Ray Bursts are among the most important stellar explosions in our Galaxy. Classical novae are driven by thermonuclear explosions in the envelopes accumulated through mass transfer onto white dwarf stars in close binary systems. During these events, approximately $10^{-7}-10^{-4}$ M$_\odot$ of material enriched in CNO nuclei, and in some cases in intermediate-mass elements such as...
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Javier Balibrea-Correa (Instituto de Física Corpuscular U. Valencia-CSIC)
Accurate neutron-capture cross sections are essential ingredients for improving stellar nucleosynthesis models and resolving discrepancies between predicted and observed isotopic abundances. In particular, the $^{94}$Nb(n,$\gamma$) reaction plays a key role in the s-process production of $^{94}$Mo in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, where traditional models fail to reproduce the isotopic...
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Jorge Lerendegui Marco (Instituto de Física Corpuscular (CSIC-UV))
Neutron-capture cross sections are a key nuclear-physics input for modelling the slow neutron-capture process, which is responsible for the production of about half of the elements heavier than iron in red-giant and massive stars [1]. In particular, unstable branching-point nuclei provide a sensitive probe of the physical conditions in stellar interiors, because neutron capture competes with...
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Silke Merchel
The presence of long-lived radionuclides in meteorites is the result of their interaction with cosmic rays. Consequently, the concentrations of these cosmogenic nuclides (CNs) reflect the extraterrestrial matter's irradiation history. The reconstruction parameters of interest are:
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1. pre-atmospheric size and shielding depth of the body in space (meteoroid)
2. irradiation time in space... -
Valarie Milton (Louisiana State University)
Abstract: X-ray superbursts are powered by runaway thermonuclear burning deep inside the crust of a neutron star, for which the pycnonuclear fusion of neutron-rich isotopes is an important heat source. A major source of uncertainty in models of superbursts stems from nuclear cross sections for the fusion of neutron-rich isotopes, which cannot currently be measured. To help constrain...
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Benjamin Wehmeyer (U Wroclaw)
Studying the galactic chemical evolution with short lived radioisotopes (SLRs) has a significant advantage over using stable elements: Due to their radioactive decay, SLRs carry additional timing information on astrophysical nucleosynthesis sites.
We can use meteoritic abundance data in conjunction with a chemical evolution model to constrain the physical conditions in the last rapid...
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Mr Saikat Sen (Presidency University, Kolkata 700073, India)
The synthesis of fluorine in a stellar environment remains an important topic in nuclear astrophysics. The nucleus $^{19}$F is believed to be produced in a side branch of the CNO cycle and in thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars through reactions such as the $^{15}$N($\alpha$,$\gamma$)$^{19}$F reaction. Spectroscopic information such as excitation energies, $\gamma$-widths,...
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Jason Holt (TRIUMF)
First-principles quantum simulations of the atomic nucleus, beginning from only underlying nuclear/weak forces, are currently undergoing nothing short of a revolution. Breakthroughs in our treatment of nuclear forces rooted in QCD, the strongly interacting many-body problem, and AI/machine learning techniques are transforming modern nuclear theory into a true first-principles discipline. In...
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Umberto Battino (University of Naples "Federico II")
Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) are fundamental probes of cosmic expansion and major contributors to Galactic chemical evolution, yet the nature of their progenitors remains unsettled. Two main progenitor classes can be identified: the explosion of a near-Chandrasekhar-mass or a sub-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf. In recent work (Battino et al. 2025), complemented by earlier studies (Battino et al....
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Nichole Vassh (TRIUMF, Canada)
Fingerprints of the properties of exotic nuclei on nucleosynthesis observables have been used for decades to frame our picture of how the heaviest elements are produced. The abundance of elements in our Sun and metal-poor stars hints at multiple neutron capture nucleosynthesis processes, the slow (s), intermediate (i) and rapid (r) neutron capture processes. Not only are the site(s) of the r...
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Prabhat Mishra (Nuclear Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India)
Cluster structure of light weakly bound nuclei have been a topic of immense research interest. A number of interesting observations and features related to breakup of projectile/ejectile in the vicinity of target nucleus have been revealed with 6,7Li, 9Be projectiles. However, there are only few exclusive charged particle coincidence studies performed for probing the cluster structure of 10B....
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Zoltán Kóródi (ATOMKI)
The elements beyond iron are predominantly synthesised in neutron capture processes, namely the s- and r-processes. The classical r-process adequately explains the abundance peaks observed at A ~ 130 and A ~ 195 [1], however, the enhancement of the elements with Z = 38-47 (Sr-Ag) indicate the presence of another nucleosynthesis process, the weak r-process, which could occur in neutrino-driven...
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Alexandra Spiridon (IFIN-HH)
The Nuclear Astrophysics Group (NAG) at IFIN-HH has been carrying out a campaign to study fusion reactions important in stellar nucleosynthesis, at sub-Coulomb barrier energies. More recently, we have been focusing on reactions between $^{12}$C and $^{16}$O nuclei, as they define stellar scenarios in various important evolution phases of massive stars.
In the past, this has been done by...
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Prof. Amit Kashi (Ariel University)
Massive stars that end their lives as core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) undergo intense mass loss, binary interaction, and eruptive activity during their late evolutionary stages. These processes strongly influence the pre-supernova structure of the progenitor, the circumstellar medium, and potentially the explosion mechanism itself. In many interacting systems, accretion onto a companion star...
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D. Lattuada (INFN-LNS & Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Architettura, Università degli Studi “Kore”, Enna, Italy)
High-power, short-pulse lasers are opening a complementary route to classical accelerator techniques for studying nuclear reactions at energies relevant to astrophysics. By driving interactions with molecular-cluster jets, lasers can generate transient, high-density plasmas where fusion proceeds in partially ionized matter and under strongly time-dependent conditions. This offers a unique...
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Alexander Holas (Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies)
The merger of a He white dwarf (WD) and a CO WD is the favored formation channel for R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars. These stars exhibit $^{16}$O/$^{18}$O ratios that are orders of magnitude lower than the solar value. However, it is not fully understood whether such low $^{16}$O/$^{18}$O ratios can be achieved in WD merger remnants for the predicted lifetime of RCB stars of around 1$0^4$...
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Sándor Kovács (HUN-REN Institute for Nuclear Research (ATOMKI))
Nucleosynthesis above the iron region mainly proceeds via successive neutron capture processes, such as the s- and r-processes. However, in the case of neutrino-driven ejecta from a core-collapse supernova, nucleosynthesis runs relatively close to the valley of stability, hence it proceeds mainly via (α,n) and (p,n) reactions towards higher mass numbers [1]. Sensitivity studies have shown that...
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Marianna Vagnoni (Università della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", INFN Roma1)
The $\mathrm{^{22}Ne(\alpha, \gamma)^{26}Mg}$ reaction is the competitor of the $\mathrm{^{22}Ne(\alpha, n)^{25}Mg}$ reaction, one of the main neutron sources for s-process nucleosynthesis. The knowledge of the cross sections of these reactions at relevant astrophysics energies is crucial, as their reaction rates influence the $\mathrm{^{22}Ne}$ abundance and, consequently, the neutron...
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Sara Montella (università di Napoli "Federico II" / INFN sez. Napoli), Giovanni Saturno (Gran Sasso Science Institute / INFN-LNGS)
The ${}^{24}\mathrm{Mg}(p,\gamma){}^{25}\mathrm{Al}$ reaction plays a key role in the Mg–Al cycle, influencing the nucleosynthesis of intermediate-mass nuclei, the chemical evolution of asymptotic giant branch stars, and the production of radioactive ${}^{26}\mathrm{Al}$. Despite its astrophysical importance, the reaction rate at stellar energies remains poorly constrained due to the extremely...
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Dr Jan Glorius (GSI)
In the past decade, research into low-energy nuclear reactions has entered a new era in heavy ion storage rings. At the GSI rings ESR and CRYRING we are now able to conduct reaction cross section measurements with decelerated radioactive beams. In this talk I will give an overview of the different experimental campaignes that address astrophysical problems in this context.
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One of these... -
David Rapagnani (Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II")
$^{22}$Ne($\alpha$,n)$^{25}$Mg is of high importance for our understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis processes. Knowledge of its low energy cross section in the region of the neutron threshold is crucial for the description of the s process, branch point populations and more. Indirect probes of near threshold states have delivered a swatch of data, but many open questions remain on the exact...
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Sotirios Alexandros Kopanos (CERN-NTUA)
Recently, the n_TOF Collaboration proposed a measurement of the neutron capture cross section of the radioisotope 94Nb, a physical quantity essential for both, nuclear astrophysics as well as for energy applications [1-2]. Current stellar models are unable to accurately reproduce 94Mo production in AGB stars via the s-process—a discrepancy further highlighted by isotopic anomalies found in...
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Rahul Rahul (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, GSI Darmstadt Germany)
Beta-delayed neutron emission probabilities (P₁ₙ) of neutron-rich fission products are key inputs to r-process nucleosynthesis calculations, determining the detour probabilities in β-decay chains back to stability and the quantity of neutrons recaptured during freeze-out in the A ≈ 130 peak region. Despite their importance, experimental data remain sparse and, in several cases, inconsistent...
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Nan Liu (Boston University)
Meteoritic isotopic anomalies preserve the isotopic fingerprints of stellar nucleosynthesis before and during Solar System formation. In presolar grains, these signatures can be measured in individual stellar condensates, while bulk meteorite components and leachates record the incomplete mixing of distinct nucleosynthetic carriers in the solar protoplanetary disk. Together, these materials...
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Guruprasad Yagadevan (wroclaw university of science and technology)
The irregular dwarf galaxies IC 10 and IC 1613, located in the local group and lacking evidence of interactions, offer ideal environments to study star formation in low mentalicity region, chemical enrichment, and r-process elements production. We adapt the galactic chemical evolution (GCE) model OMEGA (Côté et al. 2015, 2016) to reproduce observed properties of these galaxies, including gas...
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Rene Reifarth (LANL)
Virtually all of the isotopes heavier than iron would not exist without neutron-induced reactions. Despite there importance in many different astrophysical scenarios, there are almost no direct measurements for isotopes with half-lives shorter than a few years. A radically new approach is necessary to overcome this constraint.
Ion storage rings offer unprecedented possibilities to...
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Pranjal Tambe (Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA))
In the extreme environments of binary neutron star (BNS) mergers, the neutron star matter reaches temperatures (T ~ $ 1-50$ MeV) and magnetic fields (B ~ $10^{15} - 10^{17}$ G) where neutrino transport govern the macroscopic thermodynamic and chemical evolution. Standard merger simulations frequently rely on zero-field neutrino opacities, potentially missing critical transport physics in...
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Artemis Spyrou (Michigan State University)
The astrophysical i process has been proposed to explain astronomical observations that could not be explained by the traditional s and r processes. Neutron-capture reactions play an important role in the produced abundance pattern within the i process. In this talk I will present recent results on experimental constraints for important neutron capture reaction rates. I will focus on the mass...
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Claudia Lederer-Woods (School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Edinburgh)
Neutron induced reactions play a key role in the production of the heavy elements (above Fe) in our universe, and are important to shape isotopic abundances in the low mass region. In this talk, I will present recent measurements of radiative neutron capture and neutron-induced charged particle reactions relevant in astrophysics at the CERN n_TOF Facility, and future opportunities to address...
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Adriana R. Raduta (IFIN-HH, Bucharest)
Context. Numerical simulations of core-collapse supernovae, mergers of binary neutron stars, and the formation of stellar black holes,using standard Skyrme interactions, have established clear correlations between the evolution of these processes, the characteristics of hot compact objects, as well as neutrino and gravitational wave signals, and the value of effective nucleon mass at the...
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DIPALI BASAK (Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso - INFN)
The $^{12}$C+$^{12}$C fusion reaction is an important pathway for the synthesis of elements with mass A$\geq$20 and for the later stages of stellar evolution. Information on cross-section of $^{12}$C+$^{12}$C reaction below E$_{cm}$ = 2.2 MeV is sparse and previous measurements reported by different groups exhibit substantial inconsistencies. A new measurement of this reaction has been...
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Denise Piatti (INFN, Division of Padova)
The $^{27}$Al(p,$\alpha$)$^{24}$Mg and $^{27}$Al(p,$\gamma$)$^{28}$Si reactions of Mg-Al cycle, active in stars during hydrogen burning stages, significantly affect the abundances of magnesium and aluminum isotopes with crucial impact on our understanding of Globular Cluster anomalies and presolar grain origins.
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Current cross section uncertainties do not allow for an unambiguous conclusion... -
Bernardo Bernardino Gameiro (Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC))
The s-process is responsible for the synthesis of approximately half of the elements heavier than ⁵⁶Fe, and its nucleosynthesis yields in AGB and massive stars determine the isotopic abundances of heavy elements in the stellar systems. The most precise constraints available for the Nd isotopes are provided by isotopic ratio measurements from presolar stardust silicon carbide (SiC) grains....
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Peter Hempel
One of the main contributions to the production of 19F is the 15N(α, γ)19F re-
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action, which occurs during the Helium burning phase in different astrophysical
sites including AGB stars and Wolf Rayet stars. However the reaction rate at
astrophysical energies is still poorly known.
Here we report on a measurement of different resonances of the 15N(α, γ)19F re-
action in the 0.5 - 1.5 MeV... -
State Dana (Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering)
Heavy-ion fusion reactions between light nuclei, such as carbon and oxygen isotopes, together with α-induced reactions, play a fundamental role in nuclear astrophysics, governing a wide range of stellar burning processes and nucleosynthesis pathways. Experimental investigations of α-induced reactions on natural Zn and Ni targets and 13C-induced reactions on natural graphite targets were...
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Rosanna Depalo (Università degli Studi di Milano and INFN Milano)
The cross sections of nuclear reactions relevant for astrophysics are crucial ingredients to understand the synthesis of the elements, starting from the Big Bang, as well as stellar evolution. In astrophysical environments, nuclear reactions take place at energies well below the Coulomb barrier. As a result, their cross sections are often too small to be measured in laboratories on the Earth’s...
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Federico Rizzuti (Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies)
Our understanding of nucleosynthesis and stellar evolution is limited by many uncertainties coming from the complex multi-dimensional processes in stellar interiors, such as the interplay between convection, nuclear burning, and magnetic fields. 3D hydrodynamic models allow for a more realistic treatment of stellar interiors, including explicit nuclear reaction networks and other multi-D...
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Raphael Hirschi (Keele University)
In this poster, I will introduce the 321D (3 to 1-dimension) loop, a framework to improve 1D stellar evolution models using very detailed 3D hydrodynamic simulations. I will then present the impact of 321D-guided stellar models on theoretical predictions with a particular focus on nuclear burning shell interactions and how they change the classical onion-like structure of core-collapse...
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Dr Meriem OUHACHI
Nuclear deformation is a key structural property that strongly influences the stability and decay characteristics of neutron-rich nuclei involved in the rapid neutron-capture process (r-process), responsible for the synthesis of heavy elements in astrophysical environments. In this work, we investigate the evolution of quadrupole deformation in exotic nuclei relevant to the r-process path...
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Ms Nisha Chandnani (Department of Physics, School of Physical and Biological Sciences, Manipal University Jaipur, Jaipur 303007, India)
Accurate nuclear mass predictions are essential for astrophysical reaction network calculations, particularly for $r$-process nucleosynthesis, where uncertainties of even a few hundred keV can alter elemental abundances by orders of magnitude [1, 2]. Global theoretical mass models have progressively reduced their RMSE to the range of 0.2--0.8 MeV [3-8], yet their predictive reliability...
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Polychronis Koliogiannis (University of Zagreb)
The electric dipole polarizability of finite nuclei constitutes a sensitive low-energy probe of the isovector sector of the nuclear equation of state. In this contribution, we discuss its role in constraining neutron-rich matter across nuclear and astrophysical scales. High-precision measurements of dipole polarizability in neutron-rich nuclei provide access to the density dependence of the...
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Kit Yu Lau
Binary neutron star and neutron star-black hole mergers are established sites for rapid neutron capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis and are associated with short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs). However, the role of nuclear reactions in powering these transients and the impact of neutron degeneracy on early merger dynamics remain poorly understood. This work synthesizes two complementary studies that...
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Christina Fakiola (University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies)
Thermonuclear supernovae are key sites of explosive nucleosynthesis, playing a central role in shaping the isotopic composition of galaxies and contributing significantly to Fe-group and intermediate-mass elements. While Type Ia supernovae are traditionally associated with thermonuclear explosions in binary star systems, recent theoretical work (Antoniadis et al. 2020) challenges this paradigm...
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Ryota Hatami (SOKENDAI/NAOJ)
A core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is an explosion of a massive star at the end of their life. The explosion mechanism has not yet been clarified in spite of studies for long time. In this study, we focus on nucleosynthesis as a clue to understand the explosion mechanism. Metal-poor stars are stars formed in the early universe and possess the nucleosynthesis results of CCSNe of first stars....
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Artemis Tsantiri (University of Regina)
Explosive astrophysical environments, such as X-ray bursts, novae and supernovae govern nucleosynthesis on the proton-rich side of the valley of stability. In these sites, nucleosynthesis proceeds mainly through p- and α- induced reactions, as well as photodisintegration reactions that push the nuclear flux away from the valley of stability. Modeling these environments requires detailed...
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Prof. A. Tumino (Laboratori Nazionali del Sud INFN, Catania, Italy)
This contribution highlights the use of indirect nuclear techniques, specifically the Trojan Horse Method (THM) [1,2], to determine stellar reaction rates that are otherwise inaccessible via direct measurements. The presentation will focus on recent results regarding carbon burning fusion ($^{12}$C+$^{12}$C and $^{12}$C+$^{16}$O), where the study of alpha and proton evaporation channels has...
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Caroline Harrington (Air Force Institute of Technology)
Neutron-induced reactions play central roles in the study of stellar nucleosynthesis. The study of these reactions on rare isotopes has been hindered by short lifetimes, which rule out the standard approach of neutrons impinging on a fixed target. The future Neutron Target Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory follows an inverse kinematics approach, combining a rare-isotope beam with a...
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Prof. Xilu Wang (Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
The astrophysical origin of the lanthanides is an open question in nuclear astrophysics. Besides the widely studied s, i, and r processes in moderately to strongly neutron-rich environments, an intriguing alternative site for lanthanide production could in fact be robustly proton-rich matter outflows from core-collapse supernovae under specific conditions—in particular, high-entropy winds with...
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Rajesh Maiti (Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA))
Precise measurements of neutron-star masses and radii by the NICER mission offer important insights into the nature of dense matter and the equation of state. We performed a Bayesian hypothesis-ranking analysis for equation of state model selection in light of the latest NICER measurements, including the recent measurement of PSR J0614-3329, which reported an equatorial radius of 10.29 km for...
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Haridas Pai (Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP), IFIN-HH)
ELISSA is a 4π silicon strip detector array implemented at the ELI-NP facility for measurements of photodissociation reactions using high-brilliance, quasi-monoenergetic gamma beams [1, 2]. Direct measurements of the 7Li(p, α)4He [3] and 6Li(p, α)3He reactions related to the "Cosmological Li problem" as well as 11B(p, α)αα and 19F(p, α)16O reactions at astrophysical energies were performed at...
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Mila Racca (Stockholm University)
The rapid neutron-capture process (r-process) is responsible for producing roughly half of the elements heavier than iron, including Ag, Au, Th, and U. Despite its fundamental role in cosmic chemical evolution, the astrophysical sites and physical conditions of the r-process remain poorly constrained. Metal-poor, r-process enhanced stars provide unique laboratories to address this problem, as...
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Dr César Domingo Pardo (IFIC (CSIC-UV))
Neutron-capture reactions drive the synthesis of all elements heavier than iron. Unstable s-process branching isotopes are of particular interest: their neutron-capture cross sections, combined with isotopic analyses of primitive meteorites, uniquely constrain the physical conditions of AGB stars and the chemical evolution of our galaxy.
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Measuring these cross sections experimentally remains... -
Daniel Bemmerer (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf)
Our Sun burns hydrogen through the proton-proton cycles and, with a ssmall contribution, also by the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle. These processes can be studied by their neutrino signatures. Whereas current solar neutrino detectors have delivered highly precise data for the solar Be-7 and B-8 neutrino fluxes, the underlying nuclear rates are significantly less well known. The ERC Synergy...
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Neshad Deva Pathirana (Facility for Rare Isotope Beams and Michigan State University)
Short-lived radionuclides (SLRs) with million-year lifetimes are powerful chronometers of Solar System formation. Among the 19 known SLRs, $^{92}$Nb is one of the few confirmed proton-rich SLRs and is of particular interest because the meteoritic $^{92}$Nb/$^{92}$Mo ratio provides a sensitive probe of proton-rich nucleosynthesis. However, its interpretation remains limited by both...
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Kabita Kundalia (ELI-NP /IFIN-HH)
The mini Time Projection Chamber (mini-TPC) is an active target detector where the gas acts as a target for the nuclear reaction, as well as the detection medium. It was designed primarily to study $^{16}$O($\gamma$,$\alpha$) reaction. The detector can be used to investigate the multi alpha-particle decay of light nuclei, such as $^{12}$C and $^{16}$O, and the cross section of...
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Zsolt Podolyak
The third r-process yield peak at mass A ∼190 is the consequence of the N=126 neutron shell closure. Yield calculations need information on both astrophysical environment and nuclear properties. The N=126 isotones directly involved in the r process are much more neutron-rich than those that can currently be populated in laboratories, consequently theories predicting their properties have to be...
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N. Ghosh (Bose Institute)
The one-neutron (1n) and $\alpha$-transfer reactions have been widely explored for weakly bound stable nuclei [1,2]. Similar investigations with radioactive nuclei are relatively scarce [1,3]. In this work, we report the first simultaneous measurement of both 1n and $\alpha$-transfer processes in the reaction $^{12}\mathrm{C}(^{7}\mathrm{Be},{}^{8}\mathrm{Be}^{*})^{11}\mathrm{C}^{*}$. The...
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Monica Sanjinez Ortiz (JGU Mainz)
The radiative capture reaction 𝛼(d, 𝛾)6Li plays an important role in the early-Universe production of lithium and other light nuclei and has therefore been subject to extensive experimental and theoretical investigations. Its cross section was measured directly in the range of astrophysical relevance for the first time in 2014 by the LUNA collaboration [1], complementing two earlier attempts...
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Guy Leckenby (Universite de Bordeaux, CNRS, LP2I Bordeaux, Gradignan 33170, France)
Neutron-induced reaction cross sections of short-lived nuclei are essential inputs to the astrophysical processes that produce elements heavier than iron. However, these cross sections are very difficult or impossible to measure due to the difficulty of producing and handling the necessary radioactive targets. The NECTAR project at the Experimental Storage Ring in GSI, Darmstadt demonstrates,...
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Nobuya Nishimura (Kogakuin University)
A quantitative understanding of nuclear fission is important in nuclear physics, astrophysics, and nuclear applications. However, its full physical description remains unresolved because fission is a complex multistage process. We investigate the fission properties of neutron-rich uranium isotopes relevant to r-process nucleosynthesis, focusing on fragment mass distributions and prompt neutron...
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Ana Lupoae (Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics)
The direct measurement of the $^{6}Li$$\it{(p}$,$\alpha$)$^{3}He$ reaction at astrophysical energies using the scaled-down version of the ELISSA array has been performed at the IFIN-HH 3MV Tandetron. The $^{6}Li$$\it{(p}$,$\alpha$)$^{3}He$ reaction plays a key role in stellar nucleosynthesis, being tightly bound to the well-known "Cosmological Lithium Problem" for it takes place in the context...
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Marco La Cognata (INFN-LNS)
The amount of fluorine in stars is a crucial indicator of the internal physical conditions and of the processes taking place within them, such as extra mixing in asymptotic giant branch stars. Also, it is a branching point in proton induced nucleosynthesis, since its proton radiative capture may lead to the synthesis of heavier nuclei (such as Ca in early stars). Recent extrapolated findings...
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Muhammed Riyas A (University of Calicut)
Metal-poor stars formed in the early universe provide crucial clues to Galactic chemical evolution. Many of these stars, especially in the Milky Way halo, are enriched in carbon ([C/Fe] > 1.0) and are known as Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) stars. Based on their heavy-element enrichment patterns, they are categorized into CEMP-r, CEMP-s, and CEMP-rs subclasses, reflecting contributions from...
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Wan Aishah Wan Harun (University of Edinburgh, UK)
Standard massive star models systematically underproduce odd-Z intermediate mass elements (P, Cl, K, and Sc) relative to observed stellar abundances, especially at low metallicity. Recent studies suggest that this discrepancy can be accounted for if a fraction of massive stars undergo a carbon–oxygen shell merger occurring in the final days to seconds before core-collapse supernova. During...
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Clara Dehman (University of Alicante)
Neutron stars are ultra-dense remnants of massive stellar cores, observable across the electromagnetic spectrum. Their emission reflects a complex interplay of magnetic, thermal, and structural processes operating under extreme conditions of density, temperature, and magnetic field strength that cannot be reproduced in terrestrial laboratories. Understanding isolated neutron stars therefore...
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Ioana Kuncser (ELI-NP (IFIN-HH) / UNSTPB)
The abundances of the light elements are predicted by the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) and can be spectroscopically determined by observing the low-metallicity stars. Usually, the measurements are in agreement with the BBN predictions. Particularly, the Li-7 measured abundance is 3-4 times lower than expected, discrepancy known as the “cosmological Li problem”. The reaction $^3$H(α,γ)$^7$Li...
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59. The measurement of gamma-decay in photo-nuclear reaction on 12C、13C、27Al for the PANDORA projectYumaro Suzuki (RCNP, The University of Osaka)
Photo-nuclear reaction on light nuclei (A<60) is important to understand extragalactic propagation of cosmic-rays with energy greater than 1018 eV, but theoretical models of photo-nuclear reactions on these nuclei have been facing challenges due to lack of experimental data. PANDORA project aims at extracting these data such as photo-absorption cross section, E1 strength and branching ratios...
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Hiroki KAWASHIMO (The University of Tokyo, Komaba)
Pair-instability supernovae (PISNe) are the final fates of massive stars with an initial mass ranging from 140-260 $M_{\odot}$. Due to the efficient $^{56}\mathrm{Ni}$ nucleosynthesis, PISNe can be very luminous phenomena. According to some previous works, not only the PISN progenitor evolution but also the PISN nucleosynthesis is affected from the...
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Aman Gandhi (Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Magurele, Romania)
The 124Sn nucleus is used in several large scale experiments searching for neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay [1-7]. Accurate capture cross section data in 124Sn are essential for understanding (and subtracting based on simulations) the neutron-induced background in this kind of rare-event experiments [6-11]. The thermal neutron capture cross section on this isotope is expected to play a...
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Teodora Sebe (ELI-NP, UNSTPB)
This study aims at understanding the dependence of the E1 strength in the transition region from vibrational to rotational nuclei. Below the Z = 50 closed shell Sn nuclei, week deformations start to build in. In the case of 106Pd, the observed band structures were reported to correspond to a quadrupole deformation of β2 = 0.175 [1], where calculations within the tilted-axis cranking model [2]...
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Mr JYOTHISH K (Cochin University of science and technology)
ABSTRACT
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Nuclear decay properties of heavy and neutron-rich nuclei strongly influence the stability and abundance evolution of nuclei produced in rapid neutron-capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis. In this work, we develop a transfer learning-driven machine learning framework to derive interpretable analytical expressions for α-decay observables. A Random Forest model is first trained to... -
Sakshi Gautam (Panjab University Chandigarh)
We present a unified Bayesian analysis of neutron stars admixed with dark matter, focusing on both fermionic and bosonic candidates. The hadronic equation of state is modeled within a relativistic mean-field framework, consistently calibrated to chiral effective field theory at low densities, finite nuclei and heavy-ion data at intermediate densities, and astrophysical observations at high...
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