NUCLEAR ASTROPHYSICS IN STORAGE-RINGS

Nuclear reaction cross sections are usually very small in typical astr ophysical environments. It has been one of the major challenges of exp erimental nuclear astrophysics to assess the magnitude of these cross sections in the laboratory. For a successful experiment high luminosit y beams are needed. Increasing the target width, one also increases th e reaction yields. But, this is of limited use due to multiple scatter ing in the target. Storage rings are appropriate tools to overcome the se difficulties. Storage rings can work with large luminosities, and t he beams cross the interaction region many times per second (typically one million/s), compensating low density internal gas targets, or low reaction rates in beam-beam collisions. Storage rings are also ideal tools for precise measurements of masses and beta-decay lifetimes of n uclei of relevance for astrophysics.