Neutron exposure and neutron flux in Asymptotic Giant Branch stars: a study of neutron capture cross sections of Zr isotopes

摘要

Nuclear astrophysics is an interdisciplinary branch of physics involving close collaboration among researchers in various subfields of nuclear physics and astrophysics, with significant emphasis in areas such as stellar modeling, measurement and theoretical estimation of nuclear reaction rates, cosmology, cosmochemistry, gamma ray, optical and X-ray astronomy. In general terms, nuclear astrophysics aims to understand the origin of the chemical elements and the energy generation in stars.This work concerns the measurements of the neutron capture cross sections of 90,91,92,93,94,96Zr isotopes, performed at the time-of-flight facilities n_TOF at CERN and GELINA at IRMM and their implication in stellar modeling.