Measurement of the Ne18(α,p₀)Na21 Reaction Cross Section in the Burning Energy Region for X-Ray Bursts

June 2012 • 2012PhRvL.108x2701S

Authors • Salter, P. J. C. • Aliotta, M. • Davinson, T. • Al Falou, H. • Chen, A. • Davids, B. • Fulton, B. R. • Galinski, N. • Howell, D. • Lotay, G. • Machule, P. • Murphy, A. StJ. • Ruiz, C. • Sjue, S. • Taggart, M. • Walden, P. • Woods, P. J.

Abstract • The Ne18(α,p)Na21 reaction provides one of the main HCNO-breakout routes into the rp process in x-ray bursts. The Ne18(α,p₀)Na21 reaction cross section has been determined for the first time in the Gamow energy region for peak temperatures T∼2GK by measuring its time-reversal reaction Na21(p,α)Ne18 in inverse kinematics. The astrophysical rate for ground-state to ground-state transitions was found to be a factor of 2 lower than Hauser-Feshbach theoretical predictions. Our reduced rate will affect the physical conditions under which breakout from the HCNO cycles occurs via the Ne18(α,p)Na21 reaction.

Links

• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.6650
• ELECTR http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.242701
• SPIRES http://inspirehep.net/search?p=find+eprint+arXiv:1202.6650