To the Hoyle State and Beyond

摘要

The question of how exactly the elements have been forged in the stars has puzzled scientists for many years. Our experimental observations of the Cosmos and understanding of nucleosynthesis shows that the pathway to production of heavier elements passes through a particular state in ~(12)C, called the Hoyle state. In this paper the theoretical and experimental development in understanding the structure of ~(12)C are discussed with an emphasis on recent experimental findings.