A precise determination of the proton capture rates on oxygen is mandatory to predict the abundance ratios of oxygen isotopes in a stellar environment where the hydrogen burning is active. The 17O(p,γ)18F reaction, in particular, plays a crucial role in AGB nucleosynthesis as well as in explosive hydrogen burning occurring in novae and type I supernovae. At the temperature of interest for the former scenario (from 20 MK to 80 MK) the main contribution to the astrophysical reaction rate comes from the Er = 64.5 keV resonance. The strength of this resonance is presently determined only through indirect measurements, with an adopted value ωγ = 16(3) peV. A new high sensitivity setup has been installed at LUNA, located at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. The underground location of LUNA 400kV guarantees a reduction of the cosmic ray background by several orders of magnitude. The residual background was further reduced by a dedicated shielding. On the other hand the 4πBGO detector efficiency was optimized installing an aluminum target chamber and holder. With about 400 C accumulated on Ta2O5 targets, highly enriched in 17O, the LUNA collaboration has performed the first ever direct measurement of the 64.5 keV resonance strength.
The $^{17}$O(p,$α$)$^{14}$N reaction plays a key role in various astrophysical scenarios, from asymptotic giant branch stars to classical novae. It affects the synthesis of rare isotopes such as $^{17}$O and $^{18}$F, which can provide constraints on astrophysical models. A new direct determination of the $E_{\rm R}~=~64.5$~keV resonance strength performed at the Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics accelerator has led to the most accurate value to date, $ωγ= 10.0 \pm 1.4_{\rm stat} \pm 0.7_{\rm syst}$~neV, thanks to a significant background reduction underground and generally impro…
Nuclear reaction cross sections are essential ingredients to predict the evolution of AGB stars and understand their impact on the chemical evolution of our Galaxy. Unfortunately, the cross sections of the reactions involved are often very small and challenging to measure in laboratories on Earth. In this context, major steps forward were made with the advent of underground nuclear astrophysics, pioneered by the Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics (LUNA). The present paper reviews the contribution of LUNA to our understanding of the evolution of AGB stars and related nucleosynthesi…
Neutron-induced background by an alpha-beam incident on a deuterium gas target and its implications for the study of the 2H(alpha,gamma)6Li reaction at LUNA
Angular correlation spectra of $e^+e^-$ pairs produced in the $^{7}$Li($p$,$γ$)$^{8}$Be nuclear reaction have been studied at the sharp $E_p$= 441 keV resonance as well as at $E_p$= 650 keV, 800 keV and 1100 keV proton beam energies. The spectra measured at the resonance can be understood through the M1 internal pair creation process, but in the case of the off-resonance regions (direct proton capture) significant anomalies were observed in the $e^+e^-$ angular correlations supporting the X17 hypothetical particle creation and decay.
The essential ingredients of nuclear astrophysics are the thermonuclear reactions which shape the life and death of stars and which are responsible for the synthesis of the chemical elements in the Universe. Deep underground in the Gran Sasso Laboratory the cross sections of the key reactions responsible for the hydrogen burning in stars have been measured with two accelerators of 50 and 400 kV voltage right down to the energies of astrophysical interest. As a matter of fact, the main advantage of the underground laboratory is the reduction of the background. Such a reduction has allowed, for …
In nuclear astrophysics, the experimental scenario is still unclear for BBN relevant energies from 30-300 keV. Here, we report our measurements of cross section and astrophysical S(E) factor for pd capture reaction using proton beam energies 66 keV, 116 keV and 166 keV. Realistic GEANT4 simulations were carried out in order to estimate the energy dependent efficiency of the detector. The measured cross section and astrophysical S(E) factor for three new incident proton energies are found to be in good agreement, within the errors, with the values reported in the literature.
Constraining the 6.05 MeV 0$^+$ and 6.13 MeV 3$^-$ cascade transitions in the $^{12}$C($α$,$γ$)$^{16}$O reaction using the Asymptotic Normalization Coefficients
Direct measurements of reaction cross-sections at astrophysical energies often require the use of solid targets able to withstand high ion beam currents for extended periods of time. Thus, monitoring target thickness, isotopic composition, and target stoichiometry during data taking is critical to account for possible target modifications and to reduce uncertainties in the final cross-section results. A common technique used for these purposes is the Nuclear Resonant Reaction Analysis (NRRA), which however requires that a narrow resonance be available inside the dynamic range of the accelerato…
The origin of fluorine is a widely debated issue. Nevertheless, the ^{15}N(α,γ)^{19}F reaction is a common feature among the various production channels so far proposed. Its reaction rate at relevant temperatures is determined by a number of narrow resonances together with the DC component and the tails of the two broad resonances at E_{c.m.} = 1323 and 1487 keV. Measurement through the direct detection of the 19F recoil ions with the European Recoil separator for Nuclear Astrophysics (ERNA) were performed. The reaction was initiated by a 15N beam impinging onto a 4He windowless gas target. Th…
A current challenge for ab initio calculations is systems that contain large continuum contributions such as 8Be. We report on new measurements of radiative decay widths in this nucleus that test recent Green's function Monte Carlo calculations. Traditionally, γ ray detectors have been utilized to measure the high energy photons from the 7Li(p, γ)αα reaction. However, due to the complicated response function of these detectors it has not yet been possible to extract the full γ ray spectrum from this reaction. Here we present an alternative measurement using large area Silicon detectors to dete…
The chemical evolution of the Universe and several phases of the stellar life are regulated by minute nuclear reactions. The key point for each of these reactions is the value of cross sections at the energies at which they take place in stellar environments. Direct cross-section measurements are mainly hampered by the very low counting rate and by cosmic background, nevertheless they have become possible by combining the best experimental techniques with the cosmic silence of an underground laboratory. In the nineties the LUNA (Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics) collaboration op…
The thermonuclear rate of the $^{29}$Si(p,$γ$)$^{30}$P reaction impacts the $^{29}$Si abundance in classical novae. A reliable reaction rate is essential for testing the nova paternity of presolar stardust grains. At present, the fact that no classical nova grains have been unambiguously identified in primitive meteorites among thousands of grains studied is puzzling, considering that classical novae are expected to be prolific producers of dust grains. We investigated the $^{29}$Si $+$ $p$ reaction at center-of-mass energies of $200$ $-$ $420$~keV, and present improved values for resonance en…
Orientation effect of increasing the enhancement factor of DD reaction in CVD-Diamond was investigated by simulation. It is obtained that the flux peaking effect up to 2.2 times increases the relative enhancement factor for a parallel beam and up to 1.2 times for the deuteron beam with angular divergence equals 3 critical channeling angles. Qualitative agreement with the experiment was obtained.
During the Big Bang, ${}^{6}{\rm Li}$ was synthesized via the ${}^{2}{\rm H}(α,γ){}^{6}{\rm Li}$ reaction. After almost 25 years of the failed attempts to measure the ${}^{2}{\rm H}(α,γ){}^{6}{\rm Li}$ reaction in the lab at the Big Bang energies, just recently the LUNA collaboration presented the first successful measurements at two different Big Bang energies [M. Anders {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 113}, 042501 (2014)]. In this paper we will discuss how to improve the accuracy of the direct experiment. To this end the photon's angular distribution is calculated in the potential model.…
The $^{22}$Ne($p,γ$)$^{23}$Na reaction, part of the neon-sodium cycle of hydrogen burning, may explain the observed anticorrelation between sodium and oxygen abundances in globular cluster stars. Its rate is controlled by a number of low-energy resonances and a slowly varying non-resonant component. Three new resonances at $E_p$ = 156.2, 189.5, and 259.7 keV have recently been observed and confirmed. However, significant uncertainty on the reaction rate remains due to the non-resonant process and to two suggested resonances at $E_p$ = 71 and 105 keV. Here, new $^{22}$Ne($p,γ$)$^{23}$Na data wi…
In this Letter we report on the first inverse kinematics measurement of key resonances in the ${}^{22}\text{Ne}(p,γ)^{23}\text{Na}$ reaction which forms part of the NeNa cycle, and is relevant for ${}^{23}$Na synthesis in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. An anti-correlation in O and Na abundances is seen across all well-studied globular clusters (GC), however, reaction-rate uncertainties limit the precision as to which stellar evolution models can reproduce the observed isotopic abundance patterns. Given the importance of GC observations in testing stellar evolution models and their depend…
The 16O nucleus was investigated through the 15N(p,α)12C reaction at excitation energies from Ex = 12 231 to 15 700 keV using proton beams from a 5 MeV Van de Graaff accelerator at beam energies of Ep = 331 to 3800 keV. Alpha decay from resonant states in 16O was strongly observed for ten known excited states in this region. The candidate 4-alpha cluster state at Ex = 15.1 MeV was investigated particularly intensely in order to understand its particle decay channels.
At temperatures below 0.1 GK the $^{19}$F$(p,γ)^{20}$Ne reaction is the only breakout path out of the CNO cycle. Experimental studies of this reaction are challenging from a technical perspective due to copious $γ$-ray background from the far stronger $^{19}$F$(p,α)^{16}$O reaction channel. Here we present the first inverse kinematics study of the $^{19}$F$(p,γ)^{20}$Ne reaction, in which we measure the strength of the 323-keV resonance. We find a strength value of $ωγ= 3.3^{+1.1}_{-0.9}$ meV, which is a factor of two larger than the most recent previous study. The discrepancy is likely the re…
In the present experiment we measure the forward-emitted angle-integrated neutron spectrum of the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction via time-of-flight neutron spectrometry. The proton beam is shaped to a Gaussian-like distribution with energies close to the reaction threshold upstream the thick lithium target. The angle-integrated neutron spectrum resembles a Maxwellian or stellar neutron spectrum at kT=30 keV.
Re-evaluation of the $^{22}$Ne($p$,$γ$)$^{23}$Na reaction rate: $R-$matrix analysis of the non-resonant capture and effect of the 8945 keV (${7/2}^{-}$) resonance strength
In stars, the fusion of $^{22}$Ne and $^4$He may produce either $^{25}$Mg, with the emission of a neutron, or $^{26}$Mg and a $γ$ ray. At high temperature, the ($α,n$) channel dominates, while at low temperature, it is energetically hampered. The rate of its competitor, the $^{22}$Ne($α$,$γ$)$^{26}$Mg reaction, and, hence, the minimum temperature for the ($α,n$) dominance, are controlled by many nuclear resonances. The strengths of these resonances have hitherto been studied only indirectly. The present work aims to directly measure the total strength of the resonance at $E$_{r}$\,=\,$334$\,$k…
The CNO cycle is the main energy source in stars more massive than our sun, it defines the energy production and the cycle time that lead to the lifetime of massive stars, and it is an important tool for the determination of the age of globular clusters. One of the largest uncertainties in the CNO chain of reactions comes from the uncertainty in the $^{14}$N$(p,γ)^{15}$O reaction rate. This uncertainty arises predominantly from the uncertainty in the lifetime of the sub-threshold state in $^{15}$O at $E_{x}$ = 6792 keV. Previous measurements of this state's lifetime are significantly discrepan…
The nucleosynthesis of light elements, from helium up to silicon, mainly occurs in Red Giant and Asymptotic Giant Branch stars and Novae. The relative abundances of the synthesized nuclides critically depend on the rates of the nuclear processes involved, often through non-trivial reaction chains, combined with complex mixing mechanisms. In this review, we summarize the contributions made by LUNA experiments in furthering our understanding of nuclear reaction rates necessary for modeling nucleosynthesis in AGB stars and Novae explosions.
Mono-energetic gamma-beams ($Δ\sim 10$ eV) based on thermal neutron capture, in a nuclear reactor, using the V(n, $γ$) and Fe(n,$γ$) reactions, were utilized for generating fast neutron sources from lead and thallium respectively, via the $^{207}$Pb($γ$,n) and $^{205}$Tl($γ$,n) reactions. It so happened that one of the incident gamma-lines of the V source, E$_γ$ = 7163 keV, photoexcites by chance a resonance level in $^{207}$Pb, which emits neutrons at an energy of 423 keV. In a similar manner, the incident $γ$-line at E$_γ$ = 7646 keV of the Fe(n, $γ$) source photoexcites by chance a resonanc…
The abundances of sodium and oxygen are observed to be anti-correlated in all well-studied globular clusters. Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars undergoing hot bottom burning (HBB) are thought to be prime candidates for producing sodium-rich oxygen-poor material and expelling it into the cluster ISM. The 22Ne(p,gamma)23Na reaction has been shown to strongly influence the amount of 23Na produced during HBB. This reaction is also important for classical novae nucleosynthesis, with sensitivity studies showing that the abundances of several isotopes in the Ne-Al region are significantly altered w…
