The anthropic significance of the existence of an excited state of 12C
Abstract
Were it not for the presence of an excited state of 12C at 7.6 MeV, at the endpoint of the triple-alpha reaction, it would be difficult for stars to manufacture carbon and heavier elements. Calculations using modified triple-alpha rates test the sensitivity of stellar nucleosynthesis to the exact position of this excited state, and allow an empirical assessment of its importance in the anthropic principle in cosmology.
- Publication:
-
Nature
- Pub Date:
- July 1989
- DOI:
- 10.1038/340281a0
- Bibcode:
- 1989Natur.340..281L
- Keywords:
-
- Atomic Energy Levels;
- Carbon 12;
- Cosmology;
- Nuclear Fusion;
- Stellar Physics;
- Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars;
- Stellar Interiors;
- Stellar Mass;
- Supernovae;
- Space Sciences (General)