Search

We have performed the measurement of the 27Al(α, n) cross section at IFIN-HH for a range of energies from 2.5 to 5.2 MeV, using an array of 28 3He counters arranged in 3 concentric rings (ELIGANT-TN). Here we present the experimental setup and discuss the role of the 13C contamination which effects the measurements in the low-energy region. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy carried out before and after the experiment suggested an increase in the 13C concentration during the experiment.

The Asymptotic Normalization Coefficient (ANC) method has proven to be useful in retrieving the direct part of the radiative capture cross section for a number of reactions of astrophysical interest. In this work, the study of the 26Si(p, γ)27P reaction, studied via the ANC in its extension for mirror nuclei will be discussed.

Neutron induced reactions are fundamental for the nucleosynthesis of elements in the universe. Indeed, to correctly study the reactions involved in the well-known s-process in stars, which produce about half of the elements beyond the iron peak, it is mandatory to know the neutron abundance available in those stars. The 17O(n, a)14C reaction is one of the so-called “neutron poisons” for the pro- cess and it could play an important role in the balance of the neutron abundance. The reaction is therefore investigated in the energy range of astrophysical inter- est between 0 and 350 keV in the center of mass by applying the Trojan Horse Method to the three body reaction 2H(17O, a14C)H.

The 19F(ρ,α)16O reaction is an important fluorine destruction chan- nel in the proton-rich outer layers of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and it might also play a role in hydrogen-deficient post-AGB star nucleosynthesis. At present, theoretical models overproduce F abundances in AGB stars with re-spect to the observed values, thus calling for further investigation of the nuclear reaction rates involved in the production and destruction of fluorine. In the last years, new direct and indirect measurements improved significantly the knowl- edge of 19F(ρ,α)16O cross section at deeply sub-Coulomb energies (below 0.8 MeV). However, those data are larger by a factor of 1.4 with respect the previ- ous data reported in the NACRE compilation in the energy region 0.6-0.8 MeV. Using the Large High resolution Array of Silicons for Astrophysics (LHASA), we performed a new direct measurement of the 19F(ρ,α)16O. The goal of this experiment is to reduce the uncertainties in the nuclear reaction rate of the 19F(ρ,α)16O reaction. Here, experimental details, the calibration procedure and angular distributions are presented.

The Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) facility, underconstruction in Magurele near Bucharest in Romania, will provide high-intensity andhigh-resolution gamma ray beams that can be used to address hotly debated problems in nuclear astrophysics, such as the accurate measurements of the cross sections of the24Mg(γ,α)20Ne reaction For this purpose, a silicon strip detector array (named ELISSA) will be realized in acommon effort by ELI-NP and Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (INFN-LNS), in order to measure excitation functions and angular distributions over a wide energy and angular range. A prototype of ELISSA was built and tested at INFN-LNS in Catania (Italy) with the support of ELI-NP. In this occasion, we have carried out experiments with alpha sources and with a 11 MeV 7Li beam that show up a very good energy resolution (better than 1%) and very good position resolution, of the order of 1 mm. Moreover, a threshold of 150 keV can be easily achieved with no cooling.

In AGB environment, fluorine and sodium abundances are still matter of debate. About 19F (only stable isotope of fluorine), its abundance in the universe is strictly related to standard and extra-mixing processes taking place inside AGB-stars, that are considered to be the most important sites for its production. Nevertheless the way in which it is destroyed is far from being well understood. On the other hand, 23Na presence in Globular Clusters, along with is well-known anticorrelation with oxygen has made clear that this element must be produced in previous generations stars, and intermediatemass AGB stars are one of the possible candidates for its production. For this reason we studied the 19F(α,p)22Ne and 23Na(p,α)20Ne reactions in the energy range of relevance for astrophysics via the Trojan Horse Method (THM), using the three-body reactions 6Li(19F, p22Ne)d and 23Na(d, pn)20Ne.

Position-sensitive silicon strip detectors represent one of the best solutions for the detection of charged particles as they provide good energy and position resolution over a large range of energies. A silicon array coupled with the gamma beams at the ELI-NP facility would allow measuring photodissociation reactions of interest for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and on heavy nuclei intervening in the p-process. Forty X3 detectors for our ELISSA (ELI-NP Silicon Strip Detectors Array) project have been recently purchased and tested. We investigated several specifications, such as leakage currents, depletion voltage, and detector stability under vacuum. The energy and position resolution, and ballistic deficit were measured and analyzed. This paper presents the main results of our extensive testing. The measured energy resolution for the X3 detectors is better than results published for similar arrays (ANASEN or ORRUBA).

Present and future gamma-beam facilities represent a great opportunity to validate and evaluate the cross-sections of many photonuclear reactions at near-threshold energies. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are very important to evaluate the reaction rates and to maximize the detection efficiency but, unfortunately, they can be very cputime-consuming and in some cases very hard to reproduce, especially when exploring near-threshold cross-section. We developed a software that makes use of the validated tracking GEANT4 libraries and the n-body event generator of ROOT in order to provide a fast, realiable and complete MC tool to be used for nuclear physics experiments. This tool is indeed intended to be used for photonuclear reactions at γ-beam facilities with ELISSA (ELI Silicon Strip Array), a new detector array under development at the Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP). We discuss the results of MC simulations performed to evaluate the effects of the electromagnetic induced background, of the straggling due to the target thickness and of the resolution of the silicon detectors.

The abundance of 19F in the universe is strictly related to standard and extra-mixing processes taking place inside AGB-stars, that are considered to be the most important sites for its production. Nevertheless the way in which it is destroyed is far from being well understood. For this reason we studied the 19F(α,p)22Ne reaction, that is supposed to be the main destruction channel in the Helium-rich part of the star. In this experiment, the reaction has been studied in the energy range of relevance for astrophysics (0÷1 MeV) via the Trojan Horse Method (THM), using the three-body reaction 6Li(19F,p22Ne)d.

The 10B(p,α0)7Be reaction cross section has been measured in an wide energy range from 2.2 MeV down to 3 keV in a single experiment applying THM. Optimized experimental set-up ensured good energy resolution leading to a good separation of α0 and α1 contributions to the cross section coming from the 7Be ground and first excited state, respectively.

We have employed a relativistic kinetic transport approach that incorporates initial state fluctuations to study the effect of a temperature dependent shear viscosity to entropy density ratio η/s(T) on the build-up of the anisotropic flows υn(pT). We find that at LHC energies and for ultra-central collisions (0 – 0.2%) the υn(pT) have a stronger sensitivity to the T dependence of η/s in the QGP phase and this sensitivity increases with the order of the harmonic n. Moreover we have studied the correlation between the initial spatial anisotropies ϵn and the final flow coefficients 〈υn〉 for different centralities and for the two beam energies. The study shows that at LHC energies there is more correlation than at RHIC energies. In particular at LHC energies and for ultra-central collisions the linear correlation coefficient C(ϵn, υn) ≈ 1 for n = 2, 3, 4 and 5 suggesting that the 〈υn〉 are strongly related to the initial value of ϵn.

The discovery of chirped pulse amplification has led to great improvements in laser technology, enabling energetic laser beams to be compressed to pulse durations of tens of femtoseconds and focused to a few micrometers. Protons with energies of tens of MeV can be accelerated using, for instance, target normal sheath acceleration and focused on secondary targets. Under such conditions, nuclear reactions can occur, with the production of radioisotopes suitable for medical application. The use of high-repetition lasers to produce such isotopes is competitive with conventional methods mostly based on accelerators. In this paper, we study the production of 67Cu, 63Zn, 18F, and 11C, which are currently used in positron emission tomography and other applications. At the same time, we study the reactions 10B(p,α)7Be and 70Zn(p,4n)67Ga to put further constraints on the proton distributions at different angles, as well as the reaction 11B(p,α)8Be relevant for energy production. The experiment was performed at the 1 PW laser facility at Vega III in Salamanca, Spain. Angular distributions of radioisotopes in the forward (with respect to the laser direction) and backward directions were measured using a high purity germanium detector. Our results are in reasonable agreement with numerical estimates obtained following the approach of Kimura and Bonasera [Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 637, 164–170 (2011)]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon burning powers scenarios that influence the fate of stars, such as the late evolutionary stages of massive stars [1] (exceeding eight solar masses) and superbursts from accreting neutron stars [2], [3]. It proceeds through the 12C + 12C fusion reactions that produce an alpha particle and neon-20 or a proton and sodium-23—that is, 12C(12C, α)20Ne and 12C(12C, p)23Na—at temperatures greater than 0.4 × 109 kelvin, corresponding to astrophysical energies exceeding a megaelectronvolt, at which such nuclear reactions are more likely to occur in stars. The cross-sections [4] for those carbon fusion reactions (probabilities that are required to calculate the rate of the reactions) have hitherto not been measured at the Gamow peaks [4] below 2 megaelectronvolts because of exponential suppression arising from the Coulomb barrier. The reference rate [5] at temperatures below 1.2 × 109 kelvin relies on extrapolations that ignore the effects of possible low-lying resonances. Here we report the measurement of the 12C(12C, α0,1)20Ne and 12C(12C, p0,1)23Na reaction rates (where the subscripts 0 and 1 stand for the ground and first excited states of 20Ne and 23Na, respectively) at centre-of-mass energies from 2.7 to 0.8 megaelectronvolts using the Trojan Horse method [6], [7] and the deuteron in 14N. The cross-sections deduced exhibit several resonances that are responsible for very large increases of the reaction rate at relevant temperatures. In particular, around 5 × 108 kelvin, the reaction rate is boosted to more than 25 times larger than the reference value [5]. This finding may have implications such as lowering the temperatures and densities [8] required for the ignition of carbon burning in massive stars and decreasing the superburst ignition depth in accreting neutron stars to reconcile observations with theoretical models [3]. The rate of carbon burning—12C + 12C fusion—in stars is boosted by resonant behaviour at astrophysical energies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed a relativistic kinetic transport approach that incorporates initial-state fluctuations allowing to study the buildup of elliptic flow v2 and high-order harmonics v3, v4, and v5 for a fluid at fixed η/s(T). We study the effect of the η/s ratio and its T dependence on the buildup of the vn {pT) for two different beam energies: RHIC for Au+Au at √s = 200 GeV and LHC for Pb + Pb at √s = 2.76 TeV. We find that for the two different beam energies considered the suppression of the vn(pT) due to the viscosity of the medium have different contributions coming from the crossover or QGP phase. Our study reveals that only in ultracentral collisions (0-0.2%) the vn(pT) have a stronger sensitivity to the T dependence of η/s in the QGP phase and this sensitivity increases with the order of the harmonic n. Moreover, the study of the correlations between the initial spatial anisotropies ∈n and the final flow coefficients vn shows that at LHC energies there is more correlation than at RHIC energies. The degree of correlation increases from peripheral to central collisions, but only in ultracentral collisions at LHC, we find that the linear correlation coefficient C(n,n) ≈ 1 for n = 2,3,4, and 5. This suggests that the final correlations in the (vn,vm) space reflect the initial correlations in the (∈n, ∈m) space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the 17O(n,α)14C reaction has been performed by means of the Trojan horse method (THM) applied to the quasifree 2H(17O,α14C)¹H reaction induced at a beam energy of 43.5 MeV. The THM allowed us to study the 8121-keV 18O* resonant level, for which the previous THM investigation pointed out the ability of the method to overcome the centrifugal barrier suppression effects in the entrance channel. Here, in view of the developments of the method for resonant reactions, the detailed analysis of the performed experiment will be discussed, focusing on the extraction of the 8121-keV resonance strength for which no information is present in scientific literature. Moreover, the experimental results clearly show the excitation of the subthreshold level centered at -6 keV in the center-of-mass system, which is fundamental to determine the 17O(n,α)14C reaction rate of astrophysical interest. Finally, a new recommended reaction rate is presented for future astrophysical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction 17O(n, α)14C was studied at energies from Ec,m = 0 to Ec,m = 350 keV by using the quasifree deuteron breakup in the three-body reaction 17O + d -> α + 14C + p, which extended the Trojan Horse indirect method (THM) to neutron-induced reactions. It is found that the 18O excited state at E* = 8.125 ± 0.002 MeV, observed in THM experiments, is absent in the direct measurement because of its high centrifugal barrier. The angular distributions of the populated resonances have been measured by using this method. The results unambiguously indicate the ability of the THM to overcome the centrifugal barrier suppression effect and to pick out the contribution of the bare nuclear interaction [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 13C(α, n)16O reaction is the neutron source for the main component of the s-process, responsible for the production of most nuclei in the mass range 90 ≲ A ≲ 204. It is active inside the helium-burning shell in asymptotic giant branch stars, at temperatures ≲ 108 K, corresponding to an energy interval where the 13C(α, n)16O is effective from 140 to 230 keV. In this region, the astrophysical S(E)-factor is dominated by the -3 keV subthreshold resonance due to the 6.356 MeV level in 17O, giving rise to a steep increase of the S(E)-factor. Notwithstanding that it plays a crucial role in astrophysics, no direct measurements exist inside the s-process energy window. The magnitude of its contribution is still controversial as extrapolations, e.g., through the R matrix and indirect techniques, such as the asymptotic normalization coefficient (ANC), yield inconsistent results. The discrepancy amounts to a factor of 3 or more right at astrophysical energies. Therefore, we have applied the Trojan horse method to the 13C(6Li, n16O)d quasifree reaction to achieve an experimental estimate of such contribution. For the first time, the ANC for the 6.356 MeV level has been deduced through the Trojan horse method as well as the n-partial width, allowing to attain an unprecedented accuracy in the 13C(α, n)16O study. Though a larger ANC for the 6.356 MeV level is measured, our experimental S(E)-factor agrees with the most recent extrapolation in the literature in the 140-230 keV energy interval, the accuracy being greatly enhanced thanks to this innovative approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photodisintegration reaction rates involving charged particles are relevant to the p-process nucleosynthesis that aims at explaining the production of stable neutron-deficient nuclides heavier than iron. In this study, considering the compound and pre-equilibrium reaction mechanisms, the cross sections and astrophysical rates of (γ,p) and (γ,α) 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 (γ,α) reaction, are dramatically influenced by the OMPs. Thus, better determination of the OMP is crucial to reduce the uncertainties of the photodisintegration reaction rates involving charged particles. Meanwhile, a γ-beam facility at Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) is being developed which will open new opportunities to experimentally study the photodisintegration reactions of astrophysical 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 (γ,p) and eight (γ,α) reactions based on the γ-beam facility and the Extreme Light Infrastructure Silicon Strip Array (ELISSA) for the detection of charged particles at ELI-NP are proposed. Furthermore, the geant4 simulations on these (γ,p) and (γ,α) reactions are performed using the calculated cross sections and the features of the γ-beam facility and the ELISSA detector at ELI-NP. Simultaneously satisfying the minimum detectable limit of the experimental yield and the particle identification of protons and α particles, the minimum required energies of the γ beam to measure the six (γ,p) and eight (γ,α) reactions are estimated. It is shown that the direct measurements of these photonuclear reactions based on the γ-beam facility at ELI-NP within the Gamow windows at the typical temperature of T9=2.5 for the p-process are fairly feasible and promising. We believe that this pivotal work will guide the future photodisintegration experiments at ELI-NP. Furthermore, 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 10B(p,α0)7Be excitation function has been studied in a wide energy range, from 2.2 MeV down to astrophysical energies, reproducing the cross section above and below the Coulomb barrier in a single experiment. An optimized experimental setup ensured good energy resolution and for the first time a clear separation of α0 and α1 channels of the 10B+2H interaction has been achieved by applying the Trojan Horse method. An improved normalization of the Trojan Horse bare-nucleus astrophysical S(E)-factor to direct data was performed and a value of Ue=391±74eV was obtained for the electron screening potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]