ABSTRACT
There are opportunities to reach a new level of understanding of nucleosynthesis in the big bang, of the evolution of stars, and of explosive events such as supernovae, novae, x-ray-bursts, x-ray pulsars and neutron star mergers. It is an exciting time for nuclear astrophysics. The chapter highlights the nucleosynthesis processes in stellar evolution and stellar explosions, with an emphasis on the role of nuclei far from stability with a short introduction of the physics in astrophysical plasmas which governs composition changes. Nucleosynthesis calculations can in general be classified into two categories: nucleosynthesis during hydrostatic burning stages of stellar evolution on long timescales and nucleosynthesis in explosive events. Some reaction rates at the temperatures of explosive burning are totally or partially dominated by the contribution of resonances. It is therefore important to study the properties of the resonant states using, e.g. elastic and/or inelastic scattering, transfer reactions populating the mirror states, and fusion evaporation reactions.
