Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics 59 (2007) 74–93 www.elsevier.com/locate/ppnp Review Production of intermediate-mass and heavy nuclei F.-K. Thielemann a,∗ , C. Fr ¨ ohlich a , R. Hirschi a , M. Liebend ¨ orfer a , I. Dillmann a , D. Mocelj a , T. Rauscher a , G. Martinez-Pinedo b , K. Langanke b , K. Farouqi c , K.-L. Kratz c , B. Pfeiffer c , I. Panov d , D.K. Nadyozhin d , S. Blinnikov d , E. Bravo e , W.R. Hix f , P. H¨ oflich g , N.T. Zinner h a Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Basel, Switzerland b Gesellschaft f¨ ur Schwerionenforschung (GSI), Darmstadt, Germany c Institute for Nuclear Chemistry, University of Mainz and Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany d Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow, Russia e Departament de F´ ısica, Universitat Polit` ecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain f Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA g Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA h Institute for Physics and Astronomy, University of Arhus, Denmark Abstract Nucleosynthesis is the science related to all astrophysical processes which are responsible for the abundances of the elements and their isotopes in the universe. The astrophysical sites are the big bang and stellar objects. The working of nucleosynthesis processes is presented in a survey of events which act as abundance sources. For intermediate-mass and heavy elements, these are stellar evolution, type Ia and core collapse supernovae as well as hypernovae. We discuss successes and failures of existing processes and possible solutions via new (hitherto unknown) processes. Finally an analysis of their role is given in the puzzle to explain the evolution of the elemental and isotopic compositions found in galaxies, and especially the mixture found in the solar system. Different timescales due to the progenitor mass dependence of the endpoints of stellar evolution (type II supernova explosions — SNe II vs. planetary nebulae) or single vs. binary stellar systems (the latter being responsible for novae, type Ia supernovae — SNe Ia, or X-ray bursts) are the keys to understand galactic evolution. At very early times, the role of explosion energies of events, polluting pristine matter with a composition originating only from the big bang, might also play a ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: F-K.Thielemann@unibas.ch (F.-K. Thielemann). 0146-6410/$ - see front matter c  2007 Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.ppnp.2006.12.019