Search

Light elements were produced in the first few minutes of the Universe through a sequence of nuclear reactions known as Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN)1,2. Among the light elements produced during BBN1,2, deuterium is an excellent indicator of cosmological parameters because its abundance is highly sensitive to the primordial baryon density and also depends on the number of neutrino species permeating the early Universe. Although astronomical observations of primordial deuterium abundance have reached percent accuracy3, theoretical predictions4–6based on BBN are hampered by large uncertainties on the cross-section of the deuterium burning D(p,γ)3He reaction. Here we show that our improved cross-sections of this reaction lead to BBN estimates of the baryon density at the 1.6 percent level, in excellent agreement with a recent analysis of the cosmic microwave background7. Improved cross-section data were obtained by exploiting the negligible cosmic-ray background deep underground at the Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics (LUNA) of the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (Italy)8,9. We bombarded a high-purity deuterium gas target10with an intense proton beam from the LUNA 400-kilovolt accelerator11and detected the γ-rays from the nuclear reaction under study with a high-purity germanium detector. Our experimental results settle the most uncertain nuclear physics input to BBN calculations and substantially improve the reliability of using primordial abundances to probe the physics of the early Universe.

The transition between the Main Sequence and the Red Giant Branch in low mass stars is powered by the onset of CNO burning, whose bottleneck is 14N(p, $\gamma)^{15}$O. The LUNA collaboration has recently improved the low energy measurements of the cross section of this key reaction. We analyse the impact of the revised reaction rate on the estimate of the Globular Cluster ages, as derived from the turnoff luminosity. We found that the age of the oldest Globular Clusters should be increased by about 0.7-1 Gyr with respect to the current estimates.

The 14N(p,γ)15O reaction has been investigated by the LUNA experiment at the National Laboratory of Gran Sasso (LNGS). This study has been performed with two different setups. The first one, suitable for the detection of γ-rays produced by single transitions, has been based on an HPGe detector and a solid target. In a second phase, we used a BGO summing crystal as a detector and a windowless gas target. The BGO high detection efficiency and the target purity allowed us to measure the total S factor down to Ecm = 70 keV.

Context.The NO cycle takes place in the deepest layer of a H-burning core or shell, when the temperature exceeds T≃ 30  ×  106K. The O depletion observed in some globular cluster giant stars, always associated with a Na enhancement, may be due to either a deep mixing during the red giant branch (RGB) phase of the star or to the pollution of the primordial gas by an early population of massive asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, whose chemical composition was modified by the hot bottom burning. In both cases, the NO cycle is responsible for the O depletion.

Ambient neutrons may cause significant background for underground experiments. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate their flux and energy spectrum in order to devise a proper shielding. Here, two sets of altogether ten moderated ³He neutron counters are used for a detailed study of the ambient neutron background in tunnel IV of the Felsenkeller facility, underground below 45 m of rock in Dresden/Germany. One of the moderators is lined with lead and thus sensitive to neutrons of energies higher than 10MeV. For each ³He counter moderator assembly, the energy-dependent neutron sensitivity was calculated with the FLUKA code. The count rates of the ten detectors were then fitted with the MAXED and GRAVEL packages. As a result, both the neutron energy spectrum from 10-9 to 300 MeV and the flux integrated over the same energy range were determined experimentally. The data show that at a given depth, both the flux and the spectrum vary significantly depending on local conditions. Energy-integrated fluxes of (0.61 ± 0.05), (1.96 ± 0.15), and (4.6 ± 0.4) × 10-4 cm-2 s-1, respectively, are measured for three sites within Felsenkeller tunnel IV which have similar muon flux but different shielding wall configurations. The integrated neutron flux data and the obtained spectra for the three sites are matched reasonably well by FLUKA Monte Carlo calculations that are based on the known muon flux and composition of the measurement room walls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]