Rapid nuclear reactions in supernovae and cosmic rays

A synopis of the transmutations of matter in a supernova to the final stages of neutron-star matter, r -nuclei, p -nuclei and cosmic rays if given. In particular discussed are (1) the freezing-out of nuclear reactions during cooling, (2) the consequences of an improved β-decay and β-delayed neutron emission systematics for the calculations of the r -process element abundances and of its application to the estimation of the nucleosynthesis-age of the galaxy, (3) the production mechanism of the high-energy light-element cosmic rays, which we propose to originate from the neutron star's surface.