Experimental Challenge to Nuclear Physics Problems in the νp-Process

Astrophysical stellar reactions at extremely high temperatures involve a variety of problems both in nuclear reactions and nuclear structures. Specifically, the problems in the nu p-process were discussed in this talk based on our recent experimental results with low-energy RI beams and a simulation study. The nu p-process is one of the key processes for investigating the mechanism of type II supernovae, and the process could be possibly responsible for "the excess production" of p-nuclei around mass 90-100. Alpha cluster resonances have been discovered experimentally to play a crucial role for the stellar (alpha, p) reactions just above the alpha threshold. Neutron induced reactions in the proton-rich nuclear regions in the nu p-process are also suggested to play an important role, which involve nuclear structures of high level density at high excitation energies, probably giant resonances. The discussion also covered the p-nuclei production through the nu p-process at around mass 100.