22Ne and 23Na ejecta from intermediate-mass stars: The impact of the new LUNA rate for 22Ne(p,gamma)23Na

We investigate the impact of the new LUNA rate for the nuclear reaction $^{22}$Ne$(p,\gamma)^{23}$Na on the chemical ejecta of intermediate-mass stars, with particular focus on the thermally-pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) stars that experience hot-bottom burning. To this aim we use the PARSEC and COLIBRI codes to compute the complete evolution, from the pre-main sequence up to the termination of the TP-AGB phase, of a set of stellar models with initial masses in the range $3.0\,M_{\odot} - 6.0\,M_{\odot}$, and metallicities $Z_{\rm i}=0.0005$, $Z_{\rm i}=0.006$, and $Z_{\rm i} = 0.014$. We find that the new LUNA measures have much reduced the nuclear uncertainties of the $^{22}$Ne and $^{23}$Na AGB ejecta, which drop from factors of $\simeq 10$ to only a factor of few for the lowest metallicity models. Relying on the most recent estimations for the destruction rate of $^{23}$Na, the uncertainties that still affect the $^{22}$Ne and $^{23}$Na AGB ejecta are mainly dominated by evolutionary aspects (efficiency of mass-loss, third dredge-up, convection). Finally, we discuss how the LUNA results impact on the hypothesis that invokes massive AGB stars as the main agents of the observed O-Na anti-correlation in Galactic globular clusters. We derive quantitative indications on the efficiencies of key physical processes (mass loss, third dredge-up, sodium destruction) in order to simultaneously reproduce both the Na-rich, O-poor extreme of the anti-correlation, and the observational constraints on the CNO abundance. Results for the corresponding chemical ejecta are made publicly available

A new study of 25Mg (\u3b1, n) 28Si angular distributions at E\u3b1 = 3-5 MeV

The observation of 26Al gives us the proof of active nucleosynthesis in the Milky Way. However the identification of the main producers of 26Al is still a matter of debate. Many sites have been proposed, but our poor knowledge of the nuclear processes involved introduces high uncertainties. In particular, the limited accuracy on the 25Mg(\u3b1, n)28Si reaction cross section has been identified as the main source of nuclear uncertainty in the production of 26Al in C/Ne explosive burning in massive stars, which has been suggested to be the main source of 26Al in the Galaxy. We studied this reaction through neutron spectroscopy at the CN Van de Graaff accelerator of the Legnaro National Laboratories. Thanks to this technique we are able to discriminate the (\u3b1, n) events from possible contamination arising from parasitic reactions. In particular, we measured the neutron angular distributions at 5 different beam energies (between 3 and 5 MeV) in the 17.5\u25e6-106\u25e6 laboratory system angular range. The presented results disagree with the assumptions introduced in the analysis of a previous experiment

Lifetime measurement of the 6.79 MeV state in [sup 15]O with the AGATA demonstrator

The preliminary results of a new direct measurement of the lifetime of the first excited 3/2+ state in 15O are discussed. An accurate evaluation of this lifetime is of paramount importance for the determination of the cross section of the 14N(p,\u3b3)15O reaction, the slowest one in the CNO cycle, at the energies of the solar Gamow peak. The 2H(14N,15O)n reaction in inverse kinematics at 32MeV beam energy (XTU Tandem, LNL) was used to populate the level of interest, which decays via a 6.79 MeV E1 gamma-ray transition to the ground state. Gamma rays were detected with 4 triple clusters of HPGe detectors of the AGATA Demonstrator array. The energy resolution and position sensitivity of this state-of-the-art gamma-ray spectrometer have been exploited to investigate the Doppler Shift Attenuation effect on the lineshape of the gamma-ray peak in the energy spectrum. The deconvolution of the lifetime effects from those due to the kinematics of the emitting nuclei has been performed using detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the gamma emission and detection. CDCC-CRC calculations for the nucleon transfer process have been used for this purpose and preliminary results are shown. \ua9 2012 American Institute of Physics

Cross-section measurements at astrophysically relevant energies: The \LUNA\ experiment

Abstract Accurate knowledge of thermonuclear reaction rates is important in understanding the generation of energy, the luminosity of neutrinos, and the synthesis of elements in stars. Cross-section measurements for quiescent stellar H-burning are mainly hampered by extremely low counting rate and cosmic background. The \{LUNA\} Collaboration has shown that, by going underground and by using the typical techniques of low background physics, it is possible to measure nuclear cross-sections down to the energy of the nucleosynthesis inside stars. This paper reports an overview of the experimental techniques adopted in underground nuclear astrophysics through a summary of the main recent results and achievements. The future developments of the \{LUNA\} experiment are also given

Lifetime measurements in neutron-rich ^{63,65}Co isotopes using the AGATA demonstrator

Lifetimes of the low-lying (11/2(-)) states in Co-63,Co-65 have been measured employing the recoil distance doppler shift method (RDDS) with the AGATA gamma-ray array and the PRISMA mass spectrometer. These nuclei were populated via a multinucleon transfer reaction by bombarding a U-238 target with a beam of Ni-64. The experimental B(E2) reduced transition probabilities for Co-63,Co-65 are well reproduced by large-scale shell-model calculations that predict a constant trend of the B(E2) values up to the N = 40 Co-67 isotope