Review of Experimental Data on Alpha-Induced Reactions on Some Nuclei (Mg-24, Si-28, S-32, Ar-36, Ca-40) in Terms of Astrophysical Applications.

The present report gives a detailed analysis of experimental works and a review of alpha-induced reaction cross-section data of five alpha-alpha nuclei, Mg-24, Si-28, S-32, Ar-36 and Ca-40, for incident alpha energy up to 20 MeV. Alpha-induced reactions play an important role in the helium burning stage of stars, novae, and supernovae. These reactions are basic to the CNO and Al-Mg cycles, and also to the production of neutrons producing S and R processes occurring in stars. Thus, the availability of cross-section data for these reactions is a prime need for the study of nuclear interactions taking place in stars. These data have been compiled as part of an international collaboration, funded in part by the Civilian Research & Development Foundation, and are available in the EXFOR databases. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]