Neutron induced reactions for the s process, and the case of Fe and Ni isotopes

Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Licence.Neutron capture cross sections are the key nuclear physics input to understand nucleosynthesis of the slow neutron capture process (s process). At the neutron time of flight facility n-TOF at CERN neutron capture cross sections of astrophysical interest are measured over a wide energy range. A measurement campaign to determine the stellar (n,γ) cross sections of Fe and Ni isotopes is currently being pursued. First results on the stellar cross section of Ni(n,γ) confirm previous experimental results. The cross section of the radioactive s-process branching Ni was measured for the first time at stellar energies and is about a factor of 2 higher than theoretical predictions. Future facilities and upgrades will allow to access a number of other radioactive nuclides which are crucial for understanding physical conditions of s-process environmentsPeer reviewe