Nuclear reactions such as fusion fuel stars throughout their lives, synthesizing some of the chemical elements that surround us, including those essential to life itself, such as carbon and oxygen. The direct measurement of these reactions in the laboratory will be presented, in a combination of detailed features of the fusion process and astrophysics scenarios. At very ow energies, fusion occurs by tunneling through the Coulomb barrier and can be sensitive to structural effects of the colliding nuclei, such as the formation of nuclear molecules. Furthermore, fusion in astrophysical environments often occurs at temperatures corresponding to energies below what can be studied in the laboratory, with the exception of a few reactions. Among these reactions, the measurement of the carbon+carbon fusion cross-section at thermonuclear energies will be taken as an example, as one of the most challenging reactions to measure.

Recent results will be presented and their impact on stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis will be discussed.

Prof. Sandrine Courtin is an expert of molecular states in nuclei and fusion reactions of astrophysics interest. She is developing research at the University of Strasbourg and Hubert Curien Pluridisciplinary Institute (IPHC – CNRS France). She is Honorary Prof. of the University of York (UK), PI of the STELLA (Stellar Laboratory) project between France-UK-USA, and Marguerite Perey Chair of the University of Strasbourg Institute of Advanced Studies (France). She is the Director of the IPHC.