Measurement of the 18Ne(a,p_0)21Na reaction cross section in the burning energy region for X-ray bursts

Authors :: Salter, P. J. C.
Aliotta, M.
Davinson, T.
Falou, H. Al
Chen, A.
Davids, B.
Fulton, B. R.
Galinski, N.
Howell, D.
Lotay, G.
Machule, P.
Murphy, A. StJ.
Ruiz, C.
Sjue, S.
Taggart, M.
Walden, P.
Woods, P. J.
Publication Year :: 2012
Abstract: The 18Ne(a,p)21Na reaction provides one of the main HCNO-breakout routes into the rp-process in X-ray bursts. The 18Ne(a,p_0)21Na reaction cross section has been determined for the first time in the Gamow energy region for peak temperatures T=2GK by measuring its time-reversal reaction 21Na(p,a)18Ne in inverse kinematics. The astrophysical rate for ground-state to ground-state transitions was found to be a factor of 2 lower than Hauser-Feshbach theoretical predictions. Our reduced rate will affect the physical conditions under which breakout from the HCNO cycles occurs via the 18Ne(a,p)21Na reaction.<br />Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication on Physical Review Letters

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