A direct measurement of the 17O(α,γ)21Ne reaction in inverse kinematics and its impact on heavy element production

M. P. Taggart; C. Akers; A. M. Laird; U. Hager; C. Ruiz; D. A. Hutcheon; M. A. Bentley; J. R. Brown; L. Buchmann; A. A. Chen; J. Chen; K. A. Chipps; A. Choplin; J. M. D'Auria; B. Davids; C. Davis; C. Aa Diget; L. Erikson; J. Fallis; S. P. Fox; U. Frischknecht; B. R. Fulton; N. Galinski; U. Greife; R. Hirschi; D. Howell; L. Martin; D. Mountford; A. St J. Murphy; D. Ottewell; M. Pignatari; S. Reeve; G. Ruprecht; S. Sjue; L. Veloce; M. Williams

doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2019.134894

A direct measurement of the ¹⁷O(α,γ)²¹Ne reaction in inverse kinematics and its impact on heavy element production

M. P. Taggart, C. Akers, A. M. Laird, U. Hager, C. Ruiz, D. A. Hutcheon, M. A. Bentley, J. R. Brown, L. Buchmann, A. A. Chen, J. Chen, K. A. Chipps, A. Choplin, J. M. D'Auria, B. Davids, C. Davis, C. Aa Diget, L. Erikson, J. Fallis, S. P. FoxU. Frischknecht, B. R. Fulton, N. Galinski, U. Greife, R. Hirschi, D. Howell, L. Martin, D. Mountford, A. St J. Murphy, D. Ottewell, M. Pignatari, S. Reeve, G. Ruprecht, S. Sjue, L. Veloce, M. Williams

Nuclear Structure and Nuclear Astrophysi

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

During the slow neutron capture process in massive stars, reactions on light elements can both produce and absorb neutrons thereby influencing the final heavy element abundances. At low metallicities, the high neutron capture rate of ¹⁶O can inhibit s-process nucleosynthesis unless the neutrons are recycled via the ¹⁷O(α,n)²⁰Ne reaction. The efficiency of this neutron recycling is determined by competition between the ¹⁷O(α,n)²⁰Ne and ¹⁷O(α,γ)²¹Ne reactions. While some experimental data are available on the former reaction, no data exist for the radiative capture channel at the relevant astrophysical energies. The ¹⁷O(α,γ)²¹Ne reaction has been studied directly using the DRAGON recoil separator at the TRIUMF Laboratory. The reaction cross section has been determined at energies between 0.6 and 1.6 MeV E_cm, reaching into the Gamow window for core helium burning for the first time. Resonance strengths for resonances at 0.63, 0.721, 0.81 and 1.122 MeV E_cm have been extracted. The experimentally based reaction rate calculated represents a lower limit, but suggests that significant s-process nucleosynthesis occurs in low metallicity massive stars.

Original language	English
Article number	134894
Journal	Physics Letters B
Volume	798
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2019.134894
State	Published - Nov 10 2019

Funding

We would like to thank the beam delivery and ISAC operations groups at TRIUMF. In particular we gratefully acknowledge the invaluable assistance in beam production from K. Jayamanna, for delivering the high intensity beam. UK personnel were supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). Canadian authors were supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). TRIUMF receives federal funding via a contribution agreement through the National Research Council of Canada . Authors acknowledge support from the \u201CChETEC\u201D COST Action ( CA16117 ), supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). A. Choplin acknowledges funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation under grant P2GEP2-184492 . RH acknowledges support from the World Premier International Research Center Initiative ( WPI Initiative ), MEXT , Japan. The Colorado School of Mines group is supported via U.S. Department of Energy grant DE-FG02-93ER40789 . MP acknowledges support to NuGrid from NSF grant PHY-1430152 (JINA Center for the Evolution of the Elements) and STFC (through the University of Hull's Consolidated Grant ST/R000840/1 ), and access to viper, the University of Hull High Performance Computing Facility. MP acknowledges the support from the \u201CLendulet-2014\u201D Programme of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Hungary). MP acknowledges support from the ERC Consolidator Grant (Hungary) funding scheme (project RADIOSTAR, G.A. n. 724560 ).

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Taggart, M. P., Akers, C., Laird, A. M., Hager, U., Ruiz, C., Hutcheon, D. A., Bentley, M. A., Brown, J. R., Buchmann, L., Chen, A. A., Chen, J., Chipps, K. A., Choplin, A., D'Auria, J. M., Davids, B., Davis, C., Diget, C. A., Erikson, L., Fallis, J., ... Williams, M. (2019). A direct measurement of the ¹⁷O(α,γ)²¹Ne reaction in inverse kinematics and its impact on heavy element production. Physics Letters B, 798, Article 134894. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2019.134894

@article{37db94824fba4e968dea798878354f9b,

title = "A direct measurement of the 17O(α,γ)21Ne reaction in inverse kinematics and its impact on heavy element production",

abstract = "During the slow neutron capture process in massive stars, reactions on light elements can both produce and absorb neutrons thereby influencing the final heavy element abundances. At low metallicities, the high neutron capture rate of 16O can inhibit s-process nucleosynthesis unless the neutrons are recycled via the 17O(α,n)20Ne reaction. The efficiency of this neutron recycling is determined by competition between the 17O(α,n)20Ne and 17O(α,γ)21Ne reactions. While some experimental data are available on the former reaction, no data exist for the radiative capture channel at the relevant astrophysical energies. The 17O(α,γ)21Ne reaction has been studied directly using the DRAGON recoil separator at the TRIUMF Laboratory. The reaction cross section has been determined at energies between 0.6 and 1.6 MeV Ecm, reaching into the Gamow window for core helium burning for the first time. Resonance strengths for resonances at 0.63, 0.721, 0.81 and 1.122 MeV Ecm have been extracted. The experimentally based reaction rate calculated represents a lower limit, but suggests that significant s-process nucleosynthesis occurs in low metallicity massive stars.",

author = "Taggart, {M. P.} and C. Akers and Laird, {A. M.} and U. Hager and C. Ruiz and Hutcheon, {D. A.} and Bentley, {M. A.} and Brown, {J. R.} and L. Buchmann and Chen, {A. A.} and J. Chen and Chipps, {K. A.} and A. Choplin and D'Auria, {J. M.} and B. Davids and C. Davis and Diget, {C. Aa} and L. Erikson and J. Fallis and Fox, {S. P.} and U. Frischknecht and Fulton, {B. R.} and N. Galinski and U. Greife and R. Hirschi and D. Howell and L. Martin and D. Mountford and Murphy, {A. St J.} and D. Ottewell and M. Pignatari and S. Reeve and G. Ruprecht and S. Sjue and L. Veloce and M. Williams",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 The Authors",

year = "2019",

month = nov,

day = "10",

doi = "10.1016/j.physletb.2019.134894",

language = "English",

volume = "798",

journal = "Physics Letters B",

issn = "0370-2693",

publisher = "Elsevier",

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Taggart, MP, Akers, C, Laird, AM, Hager, U, Ruiz, C, Hutcheon, DA, Bentley, MA, Brown, JR, Buchmann, L, Chen, AA, Chen, J, Chipps, KA, Choplin, A, D'Auria, JM, Davids, B, Davis, C, Diget, CA, Erikson, L, Fallis, J, Fox, SP, Frischknecht, U, Fulton, BR, Galinski, N, Greife, U, Hirschi, R, Howell, D, Martin, L, Mountford, D, Murphy, ASJ, Ottewell, D, Pignatari, M, Reeve, S, Ruprecht, G, Sjue, S, Veloce, L & Williams, M 2019, 'A direct measurement of the ¹⁷O(α,γ)²¹Ne reaction in inverse kinematics and its impact on heavy element production', Physics Letters B, vol. 798, 134894. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2019.134894

TY - JOUR

T1 - A direct measurement of the 17O(α,γ)21Ne reaction in inverse kinematics and its impact on heavy element production

AU - Taggart, M. P.

AU - Akers, C.

AU - Laird, A. M.

AU - Hager, U.

AU - Ruiz, C.

AU - Hutcheon, D. A.

AU - Bentley, M. A.

AU - Brown, J. R.

AU - Buchmann, L.

AU - Chen, A. A.

AU - Chen, J.

AU - Chipps, K. A.

AU - Choplin, A.

AU - D'Auria, J. M.

AU - Davids, B.

AU - Davis, C.

AU - Diget, C. Aa

AU - Erikson, L.

AU - Fallis, J.

AU - Fox, S. P.

AU - Frischknecht, U.

AU - Fulton, B. R.

AU - Galinski, N.

AU - Greife, U.

AU - Hirschi, R.

AU - Howell, D.

AU - Martin, L.

AU - Mountford, D.

AU - Murphy, A. St J.

AU - Ottewell, D.

AU - Pignatari, M.

AU - Reeve, S.

AU - Ruprecht, G.

AU - Sjue, S.

AU - Veloce, L.

AU - Williams, M.

PY - 2019/11/10

Y1 - 2019/11/10

N2 - During the slow neutron capture process in massive stars, reactions on light elements can both produce and absorb neutrons thereby influencing the final heavy element abundances. At low metallicities, the high neutron capture rate of 16O can inhibit s-process nucleosynthesis unless the neutrons are recycled via the 17O(α,n)20Ne reaction. The efficiency of this neutron recycling is determined by competition between the 17O(α,n)20Ne and 17O(α,γ)21Ne reactions. While some experimental data are available on the former reaction, no data exist for the radiative capture channel at the relevant astrophysical energies. The 17O(α,γ)21Ne reaction has been studied directly using the DRAGON recoil separator at the TRIUMF Laboratory. The reaction cross section has been determined at energies between 0.6 and 1.6 MeV Ecm, reaching into the Gamow window for core helium burning for the first time. Resonance strengths for resonances at 0.63, 0.721, 0.81 and 1.122 MeV Ecm have been extracted. The experimentally based reaction rate calculated represents a lower limit, but suggests that significant s-process nucleosynthesis occurs in low metallicity massive stars.

AB - During the slow neutron capture process in massive stars, reactions on light elements can both produce and absorb neutrons thereby influencing the final heavy element abundances. At low metallicities, the high neutron capture rate of 16O can inhibit s-process nucleosynthesis unless the neutrons are recycled via the 17O(α,n)20Ne reaction. The efficiency of this neutron recycling is determined by competition between the 17O(α,n)20Ne and 17O(α,γ)21Ne reactions. While some experimental data are available on the former reaction, no data exist for the radiative capture channel at the relevant astrophysical energies. The 17O(α,γ)21Ne reaction has been studied directly using the DRAGON recoil separator at the TRIUMF Laboratory. The reaction cross section has been determined at energies between 0.6 and 1.6 MeV Ecm, reaching into the Gamow window for core helium burning for the first time. Resonance strengths for resonances at 0.63, 0.721, 0.81 and 1.122 MeV Ecm have been extracted. The experimentally based reaction rate calculated represents a lower limit, but suggests that significant s-process nucleosynthesis occurs in low metallicity massive stars.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85072283839&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.physletb.2019.134894

DO - 10.1016/j.physletb.2019.134894

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85072283839

SN - 0370-2693

VL - 798

JO - Physics Letters B

JF - Physics Letters B

M1 - 134894

ER -

A direct measurement of the ¹⁷O(α,γ)²¹Ne reaction in inverse kinematics and its impact on heavy element production

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