Shell model studies for nuclear astrophysics

Abstract

Shell model studies have contributed in recent years significantly to improve nuclear input required in simulations of the dynamics of astrophysical objects and their associated nucleosynthesis. This manuscript highlights a few examples like electron capture rates of importance for the evolution of core-collapse supernovae and the nucleosynthesis in thermonuclear supernovae, neutrino-nucleus cross sections with relevance to the supernova neutrino spectra and finally half lives of neutron-rich nuclei with magic neutron numbers which serve as waiting points in the mass flow of the astrophysical r-process.