Synopsis of nucleosynthesis

Like chemistry, nuclear astrophysics is a combinatorial art. Nuclear reactions are written down like chemical reactions, replacing atoms with nuclei. 

The earliest nucleosynthesis belongs to cosmology. A first flurry of nuclear reactions took place in the great primordial heat occurring between 1 and 100 seconds after the Big Bang. The species H, D, He, He and Li were synthesised in proportions that depend on the baryonic density of the Universe (Vangioni-Flam Cassd 1998) (see Appendix 1). 

This sequence effectively breaks off at atomic mass 7 because the heirs of helium are so incurably unstable. In particular. 

The Universe had to make stars in order to pursue the long road to nuclear complexity. 

In a classic article published in the journal Review of Modern Physics in 1957, Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler and Hoyle described the various processes responsible for synthesising chemical elements during the evolution of stars. These processes include thermonuclear fusion and neutron capture. 

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