Astrophysical (p, γ) reactions for A = 55 - 60

The rapid proton capture process or rp- process is one of the major nucleosynthesis processes that are responsible for the heavy element nucleosynthesis. It proceeds beyond iron through the proton rich side of the nucleosynthesis path. There are certain astrophysical sites, for example, X-ray bursters with a large proton flux in the peak temperature of 1 to 3 GK that can account for the elemental abundance of such heavily proton-rich nuclei not available on earth. As the experimental data are very scarce, theory remains the sole guide to predict various nuclear observables important in theoretical evaluation of p-process abundance distribution through a network calculation that involves thousands of reactions