Branching ratio Γα/Γγ of the 4.033 MeV 3/2+ state in 19Ne

The branching ratio Γα/Γγ of the 4.033 MeV 3/2+ state in 19Ne plays a crucial role in the breakout from the hot CNO cycle into the rapid proton capture process. This ratio has been studied by making use of the advantages of inverse kinematics. The state was populated via the 3He(20Ne,α) 19Ne* reaction and its decay via γ or α emission was measured by detecting the heavy reaction products (19Ne or 15O) in coincidence in a magnetic spectrograph. An upper limit Γα/Γγ≤6×10-4 has been obtained. With these results, the astrophysical reaction rate for the 15O (α, γ) 19Ne reaction has been calculated. Its influence on the breakout at various astrophysical sites, novas, x-ray bursts, and supermassive stars, is discussed

Stellar reactions with short-lived nuclei: 17F(p,α)14O

A method has been developed that can provide beams of many short-lived nuclei of interest in nucleosynthesis along the rp process path. With a 17F beam (T1/2=64s) the excitation function of the 17F(p, α)14O reaction was measured to determine properties of excited states in 18Ne. These states influence the rate of the 14O(α, p)17F reaction which is important for understanding energy generation and nucleosynthesis in x-ray bursts. The present direct measurements yield a pattern of resonances and cross sections which differ substantially from previous estimates

Widths of astrophysically important resonances in 18Ne

The astrophysically important reaction 14O(α,p)17F has been studied through a measurement of the time-inverse p(17F,α)14O reaction using a radioactive 17F beam. Resonance parameters for several states above an excitation energy of 7 MeV in 18Ne have been obtained. Through a measurement of the partial widths for elastic and inelastic proton scattering, it was determined that for these resonances the contribution of the 14O(α,p)17F* branch populating the first excited state in 17F is small. The results indicate that the contribution of resonances above Ex=7 MeV to the astrophysical (α,p) reaction rate is smaller than was previously assumed

The 44Ti(α, p) reaction and its implication on the 44Ti yield in supernovae

Cross sections for the 44Ti(α, p)47V reaction which significantly affects the yield of 44Ti in supernovae were measured in the energy range 5.7MeV ≤ Ec.m. ≤ 9 MeV, using a beam of radioactive 44Ti. The cross sections and the deduced astrophysical reaction rates are larger than the results from theoretical calculations by about a factor of 2. The implications of this increase in the reaction rate for the search of supernovae using space-based gamma detectors are discussed

Partition of cross sections in asymmetric nucleus-nucleus reactions and the origin of fast alpha particles

To investigate the mechanism of asymmetric nucleus-nucleus reactions from the Coulomb barrier to intermediate energies the /sup 14/N + /sup 159/Tb reaction was studied at five bombarding energies between 8 and 23 MeV/u via particle-particle correlations (at selected energies) and particle KX-ray coincidences to identify the specific reaction channels. With the KX-ray method partial cross sections for projectile-like fragments (PLF) as a function of the atomic number (Z/sub res/) of the residual nucleus can be determined. The charge balance yields the ''missing charge'' dZ = Z/sub proj/ + Z/sub targ/ - Z/sub PLF/ - Z/sub TLF/ that indicates whether, in addition to the PLF, other charged particles are emitted. A large fraction of the inclusive cross sections is found to originate from such channels with two or more fragments in the exit channel, and this fraction increases as the PLF is further removed in mass from the incident projectile, and with increasing bombarding energy. From the particle-particle correlation studies it is found that sequential decays of PLF's are dominant. ''Non-sequential'' processes, if present, are associated with inelastic reactions involving excitations of both projectile and target. The bulk of the large alpha-particle cross section at small angles is found to be associated with channels in which, in addition to the alpha particle, only nucleons and other alpha particles are emitted. From ..gamma..-ray multiplicity measurements and from the broad distribution of the strength with Z/sub res/ it is concluded that these alpha particles originate from inelastic (damped) processes. 27 refs., 10 figs