Exotic nuclei in astrophysics

Recently the academic community has marked several anniversaries connected with discoveries that played a significant role in the development of astrophysical investigations. The year 2009 was proclaimed by the United Nations the International Year of Astronomy. This was associated with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei??s discovery of the optical telescope, which marked the beginning of regular research in the field of astronomy. An important contribution to not only the development of physics of the microcosm, but also to the understanding of processes occurring in the Universe, was the discovery of the atomic nucleus made by E. Rutherford 100 years ago. Since then the investigations in the fields of physics of particles and atomic nuclei have helped to understand many processes in the microcosm. Exactly 80 years ago, K. Yanski used a radio-telescope in order to receive the radiation from cosmic objects for the first time, and at the present time this research area of physics is the most efficient method for studying the properties of the Universe. Finally, the April 12, 1961 (50 years ago) launching of the first sputnik into space with a human being onboard, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, marked the beginning of exploration of the Universe with the direct participation of man. All these achievements considerably extended our ideas about the Universe. This work is an attempt to present some problems on the evolution of the Universe: the nucleosynthesis and cosmochronology from the standpoint of physics of particles and nuclei, in particular with the use of the latest results, obtained by means of radioactive nuclear beams. The comparison is made between the processes taking place in the Universe and the mechanisms of formation and decay of nuclei, as well as of their interaction at different energies. Examples are given to show the capabilities of nuclear-physics methods for studying cosmic objects and properties of the Universe. The results of investigations in nuclear reactions, induced by radioactive nuclear beams, make it possible to analyze the nucleosynthesis scenario in the region of light elements in a new manner.