Anthropic considerations in nuclear physics

Understand

In this short review, I discuss the sensitivity of the generation of the light and the life-relevant elements like carbon and oxygen under changes of the parameters of the Standard Model pertinent to nuclear physics.

• Chiral effective field theory allows for a systematic and precise description of the forces between two, three, and four nucleons.
• In this framework, variations under the light quark masses and the electromagnetic fine structure constant can also be consistently calculated.
• Combining chiral nuclear effective field theory with Monte Carlo simulations allows to further calculate the properties of nuclei, in particular of the Hoyle state in carbon, that plays a crucial role in the generation of the life-relevant elements in hot, old stars.