584 research outputs found
The electron screening puzzle and nuclear clustering
Accurate measurements of nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest within,
or close to, the Gamow peak, show evidence of an unexpected effect attributed
to the presence of atomic electrons in the target. The experiments need to
include an effective "screening" potential to explain the enhancement of the
cross sections at the lowest measurable energies. Despite various theoretical
studies conducted over the past 20 years and numerous experimental
measurements, a theory has not yet been found that can explain the cause of the
exceedingly high values of the screening potential needed to explain the data.
In this letter we show that instead of an atomic physics solution of the
"electron screening puzzle", the reason for the large screening potential
values is in fact due to clusterization effects in nuclear reactions, in
particular for reaction involving light nuclei.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Physics Letters
Indirect techniques in nuclear astrophysics. Asymptotic Normalization Coefficient and Trojan Horse
Owing to the presence of the Coulomb barrier at astrophysically relevant
kinetic energies it is very difficult, or sometimes impossible, to measure
astrophysical reaction rates in the laboratory. That is why different indirect
techniques are being used along with direct measurements. Here we address two
important indirect techniques, the asymptotic normalization coefficient (ANC)
and the Trojan Horse (TH) methods. We discuss the application of the ANC
technique for calculation of the astrophysical processes in the presence of
subthreshold bound states, in particular, two different mechanisms are
discussed: direct capture to the subthreshold state and capture to the
low-lying bound states through the subthreshold state, which plays the role of
the subthreshold resonance. The ANC technique can also be used to determine the
interference sign of the resonant and nonresonant (direct) terms of the
reaction amplitude. The TH method is unique indirect technique allowing one to
measure astrophysical rearrangement reactions down to astrophysically relevant
energies. We explain why there is no Coulomb barrier in the sub-process
amplitudes extracted from the TH reaction. The expressions for the TH amplitude
for direct and resonant cases are presented.Comment: Invited talk on the Conference "Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics II",
Debrecen, Hungary, 16-20 May, 200
Big Bang nucleosynthesis revisited via Trojan Horse Method measurements
Nuclear reaction rates are among the most important input for understanding
the primordial nucleosynthesis and therefore for a quantitative description of
the early Universe. An up-to-date compilation of direct cross sections of
2H(d,p)3H, 2H(d,n)3He, 7Li(p,alpha)4He and 3He(d,p)4He reactions is given.
These are among the most uncertain cross sections used and input for Big Bang
nucleosynthesis calculations. Their measurements through the Trojan Horse
Method (THM) are also reviewed and compared with direct data. The reaction
rates and the corresponding recommended errors in this work were used as input
for primordial nucleosynthesis calculations to evaluate their impact on the 2H,
3,4He and 7Li primordial abundances, which are then compared with observations.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
Exploring the photothermo-catalytic performance of brookite tio2-ceo2 composites
The thermocatalytic, photocatalytic and photothermo-catalytic oxidation of some volatile organic compounds (VOCs), 2-propanol, ethanol and toluene, was investigated over brookite TiO2-CeO2 composites. The multi-catalytic approach based on the synergistic effect between solar photocatalysis and thermocatalysis led to the considerable decrease in the conversion temperatures of the organic compounds. In particular, in the photothermo-catalytic runs, for the most active samples (TiO2-3 wt% CeO2 and TiO2-5 wt% CeO2). the temperature at which 90% of VOC conversion occurred was about 60â—¦ C, 40â—¦ C and 20â—¦ C lower than in the thermocatalytic tests for 2-propanol, ethanol and toluene, respectively. Furthermore. the addition of cerium oxide to brookite TiO2 favored the total oxidation to CO2 already in the photocatalytic tests at room temperature. The presence of small amounts of cerium oxide allowed to obtain efficient brookite-based composites facilitating the space charge separation and increasing the lifetime of the photogenerated holes and electrons as confirmed by the characterization measurements. The possibility to concurrently utilize the photocatalytic properties of brookite and the redox properties of CeO2, both activated in the photothermal tests, is an attractive approach easily applicable to purify air from VOCs
ASTROPHYSICAL IMPACT of the UPDATED 9Be(p,)6Li and 10B(p,)7Be REACTION RATES AS DEDUCED by THM
The complete understanding of the stellar abundances of lithium, beryllium, and boron represents one of the most interesting open problems in astrophysics. These elements are largely used to probe stellar structure and mixing phenomena in different astrophysical scenarios, such as pre-main-sequence or main-sequence stars. Their different fragility against (p,) burning reactions allows one to investigate different depths of the stellar interior. Such fusion mechanisms are triggered at temperatures between T ≈ (2-5) × K, thus defining a corresponding Gamow energy between ≈ 3-10 keV, where S(E)-factor measurements need to be performed to get reliable reaction rate evaluations. The Trojan Horse Method is a well defined procedure to measure cross sections at Gamow energies overcoming the uncertainties due to low-energy S(E)-factor extrapolation as well as electron screening effects. Taking advantage of the measure of the 9Be(p,)6Li and 10B(p,)7Be cross sections, the corresponding reaction rates have been calculated and compared with the evaluations by the NACRE collaboration, widely used in the literature. The impact on surface abundances of the updated 9Be and 10B (p,) burning rates is discussed for pre-MS stars
A solar photothermocatalytic approach for the CO2 conversion: Investigation of different synergisms on CoO-CuO/brookite TiO2-CeO2 catalysts
The photoactive features of the least common polymorph of TiO2, i.e. brookite, were combined with the thermocatalytic redox ones of cerium oxide, focusing on the effects of the addition of small amounts of Co-Cu oxides for the solar CO2 conversion. By considering the characterization data, a surface segregation of the hosted metal oxides on the TiO2-CeO2 composite was evidenced, and their presence increased the amount of oxygen vacancies and improved the charge carriers separation. The bimetallic oxides-based sample was the most performing one in the photocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction at room temperature. The formation of carbon monoxide and methane was 5 and 0.5 μmol g−1h−1, respectively, i.e. about 10 times higher than that found with bare brookite. A further enhancement was obtained with the same CoO-CuO/TiO2-CeO2 catalyst applying the photothermal approach. The CO2-TPD and the FTIR measurements highlighted the high interaction between CO2 and the surface sites
Molecular Structures in T=1 states of 10B
Multi-center (molecular) structures can play an important role in light
nuclei. The highly deformed rotational band in 10Be with band head at 6.179 MeV
has been observed recently and suggested to have an exotic alpha:2n:alpha
configuration. A search for states with alpha:pn:alpha two-center molecular
configurations in 10B that are analogous to the states with alpha:2n:alpha
structure in 10Be has been performed. The T=1 isobaric analog states in 10B
were studied in the excitation energy range of E=8.7-12.1 MeV using the
reaction 1H(9Be,alpha)6Li*(T=1, 0+, 3.56 MeV). An R-matrix analysis was used to
extract parameters for the states observed in the (p,alpha) excitation
function. Five T=1 states in 10B have been identified. The known 2+ and 3-
states at 8.9 MeV have been observed and their partial widths have been
measured. The spin-parities and partial widths for three higher lying states
were determined. Our data support theoretical predictions that the 2+ state at
8.9 MeV (isobaric analog of the 7.54 MeV state in 10Be) is a highly clustered
state and can be identified as a member of the alpha:np:alpha rotational band.
The next member of this band, the 4+ state, has not been found. A very broad 0+
state at 11 MeV that corresponds to pure alpha+6Li(0+,T=1) configuration is
suggested and it might be related to similar structures found in 12C, 18O and
20Ne.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted in Physical Review
Trojan Horse as an indirect technique in nuclear astrophysics. Resonance reactions
The Trojan Horse method is a powerful indirect technique that provides
information to determine astrophysical factors for binary rearrangement
processes at astrophysically relevant energies by measuring
the cross section for the Trojan Horse reaction in
quasi-free kinematics. We present the theory of the Trojan Horse method for
resonant binary subreactions based on the half-off-energy-shell R matrix
approach which takes into account the off-energy-shell effects and initial and
final state interactions.Comment: 6 pages and 1 figur
Determination of the photodisintegration reaction rates involving charged particles: systematical calculations and proposed measurements based on Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)
Photodisintegration reaction rates involving charged particles are of
relevance to the p-process nucleosynthesis that aims at explaining the
production of the stable neutron-deficient nuclides heavier than iron. In this
study, the cross sections and astrophysical rates of (g,p) and (g,a) reactions
for about 3000 target nuclei with 10<Z<100 ranging from stable to proton
dripline nuclei are computed. To study the sensitivity of the calculations to
the optical model potentials (OMPs), both the phenomenological Woods-Saxon and
the microscopic folding OMPs are taken into account. The systematic comparisons
show that the reaction rates, especially for the (g,a) reaction, are
dramatically influenced by the OMPs. Thus the better determination of the OMP
is crucial to reduce the uncertainties of the photodisintegration reaction
rates involving charged particles. Meanwhile, a gamma-beam facility at ELI-NP
is being developed, which will open new opportunities to experimentally study
the photodisintegration reactions of astrophysics interest. Considering both
the important reactions identified by the nucleosynthesis studies and the
purpose of complementing the experimental results for the reactions involving
p-nuclei, the measurements of six (g,p) and eight (g,a) reactions based on the
gamma-beam facility at ELI-NP and the ELISSA detector for the charged particles
detection are proposed, and the GEANT4 simulations are correspondingly
performed. The minimum required energies of the gamma-beam to measure these
reactions are estimated. It is shown that the direct measurements of these
photonuclear reactions within the Gamow windows at T_9=2.5 for p-process are
fairly feasible and promising at ELI-NP. The expected experimental results will
be used to constrain the OMPs of the charged particles, which can eventually
reduce the uncertainties of the reaction rates for the p-process
nucleosynthesis.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, Phys. Rev. C accepte
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