  This white paper, directed to the Stars and Stellar Evolution panel, has
three objectives: 1) to provide the Astro2010 Decadal Survey with a vista into
the goals of the nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics community; 2) to
alert the astronomical community of joint opportunities for discoveries at the
interface between nuclear physics and astronomy; and 3) to delineate efforts in
nuclear physics and describe the observational and theoretical advances in
astrophysics necessary to make progress towards answering the following
questions in the Nuclear Science 2007 Long Range Plan: 1) What is the origin
and distribution of the elements? 2) What are the nuclear reactions that power
stars and stellar explosions? 3) What is the nature of dense matter? The scope
of this white paper concerns the specific area of "low energy" nuclear
astrophysics. We define this as the area of overlap between astrophysics and
the study of nuclear structure and reactions. Of the questions listed above,
two -- What is the origin of the elements? and What is the nature of dense
matter? -- were specifically listed in the National Academies Study,
"Connecting Quarks with the Cosmos".
