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In the network of reactions present in the Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the 3He(n, p)3H reaction has an important role which impacts the final 7Li abundance. The Trojan Horse Method (THM) has been applied to the 3He(d, pt)H reaction in order to extract the astrophysical S(E)-factor of the 3He(n, p)3H reaction in the Gamow energy range. The experiment will be described in the present work together with the first preliminary results.

The nucleosynthesis path of the γ-process is predominantly governed by the branching points at which the flow of the initial (γ,n) is redirected by either (γ,p) or (γ,α) reactions. In this work, the inverse reactions, proton and α capture on 108Cd were studied in order to aid in verification of the 112Sn isotope as a potential branching point in the γ-process. The results of the first measurement with a γ-summing detector, HECTOR, are compared with previous measurements found in the literature and with NON-SMOKER predictions. The results of this work will provide input for Hauser-Feshbach calculations to obtain the γ induced reaction rates.

The first measurements of the capture reactions for the astrophysical γ-process using HECTOR, a total absorption spectrometer are presented. Two reactions: 102Pd(p,γ)103Ag and 90Zr(α,γ)94Mo were measured using the γ-summing technique. The results are compared with the previous measurements found in the literature and with the NON-SMOKER predictions. The results from the current work are in a good agreement with the data found in the literature and serve as a test of the newly developed detector.

Many astrophysical events, such as novae and X-ray bursts, are powered by reactions with radioactive nuclei. Studying the properties of these nuclei in the laboratory can therefore further our understanding of these astrophysical explosions. The TwinSol separator at the University of Notre Dame has recently been used to produce intense (~106 pps) beams of 17F. In this article, some of the first measurements with these beams are discussed.