Hydrostatic nucleosynthesis. I - Core helium and carbon burning.

The reaction network of the present examination of thermonuclear synthesis of nuclei during quasi-hydrostatic stages of the evolution of massive stars is complete up to atomic weight values of 74. The equations for temperature and density evolution are formulated in a way that renders them comparatively insensitive to specific assumptions concerning stellar convection and mixing. The first part of this work presents both the model and results of core He and C burning, for original He core masses of 1.5, 2, 4, 8, and 16 solar masses; subsequent stages, up to Si burning, are considered in a second part. The study of these later core-burning stages yields information on minimum size of reaction networks, which can be used to accurately predict the neutron excess.