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Article Contents

ABSTRACT

1.INTRODUCTION

2.CREATION AND EARLY EVOLUTION OF MATTER IN THE UNIVERSE

2.1.Evolution of the energy density in the early Universe

2.1.1.Observations of CMBR

2.1.2.Inflationary interpretation of the CMBR

2.1.3.Dark Matter: indications, candidates and signals

2.1.4.Dark energy, the accelerating Universe, and the problem of distance measurements

2.2.Origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry

2.3.Evolution of the expanding Universe

2.4.Gravitational clustering of matter

3.PRIMORDIAL NUCLEOSYNTHESIS

3.1.Weak decoupling

3.2.The reaction network and the production process of nucleosynthesis

3.3.Comparison of calculations and observed primordial abundances

4.STELLAR NUCLEOSYNTHESIS

4.1.Stellar evolution

4.1.1.Birth of stars

4.1.2.Hertzsprung-Russel diagram

4.1.3.Supernova explosions

4.1.4.Core collapse supernovae

4.2.Hydrogen burning: proton-proton chain, CNO cycle

4.3.Helium burning: nucleosynthesis of carbon and oxygen

4.4.Advanced burning stages

4.5.Nucleosynthesis beyond Fe

4.5.1.The main and weak s-process components

4.5.2.Explosive nucleosynthesis in the outer layers of a massive star

4.5.3.Explosive burning in the deep layers of a massive star

4.6.Nucleosynthesis by spallation

5.NUCLEOSYNTHESIS IN BINARY STAR SYSTEMS

5.1.General considerations

5.2.Novae

5.3.Type Ia supernovae

5.4.X-ray bursts and the rp-process

5.5.Neutron star mergers

6.THE ABUNDANCE OF ELEMENTS IN THE UNIVERSE

6.1.Experiments and observations

6.2.Solar abundances

6.3.Meteoritic inclusions

6.4.Galactical chemical evolution: putting it all together

REFERENCES