Quantum dynamical microscopic approach to stellar carbon burning

The process of carbon burning is vital to understanding late stage stellar evolution of massive stars and the conditions of certain supernovae. Carbon burning is a complex problem, involving quantum tunnelling and nuclear molecular states. Quantum dynamical calculations of carbon burning are presented, combining the time-dependent wave-packet method and the density-constrained time-dependent Hartree-Fock (DC-TDHF) approach. We demonstrate that the state-of-the-art DC-TDHF interaction potential successfully explains the appearance of some resonant structures in the sub-barrier fusion cross-section. We study the dynamic response of the compound nucleus to further explain resonant structure seen in the Gamow energy region. The results show the critical role of nucleon-nucleon interactions and compound nucleus excitations in the 12 C + 12 C fusion resonances observed at astrophysical energies.