I discuss neutron transfer reactions, consisting in quantum tunneling of a neutron from a weakly bounded state in one nucleus to a stronger bounded state in another nucleus. The rate of this process is estimated by averaging the transfer probability, calculated for a given separation between the reacting nuclei, over realistic distribution of the nuclei. Neutron transfer can determine transformations of nuclei with different nucleon numbers (in particular, destroying URCA pairs of nuclei) and affect heating of accreting neutrons stars, being thus crucial for accurate modelling of these objects.

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