Selected recent experimental nuclear astrophysics results at GSI and future perspectives

Measurements of low-energy cross sections are indispensable for the understanding of nuclear processes inside stars. Usually, these cross sections are extremely small and, therefore, difficult to measure. Indirect approaches, such as the Coulomb dissociation (CD) method, are often the only way to obtain valuable information on low-energy reaction rates or reactions with unstable nuclei. The application of the method will be demonstrated on the example of the D(α,γ)6Li reaction which is relevant for the Big-Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) of 6Li. This experiment was performed at the GSI/KaoS setup. Other reactions, which are currently under investigation at the FRS/ALADIN/LAND setup at GSI, as well as possible future reaction studies at the planned R3B setup at FAIR will also be discussed. Another promising method to study reactions of exotic nuclei is the utilization of storage rings, where stored radioactive ions interact with a gas target. The feasibility of this method will be discussed for proton capture reactions relevant for p-process nucleosynthesis.(author)