Plans for Studies of (alpha,n) Reactions Relevant to Astrophysics via Inverse Reactions

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

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Nuclear Reactions, Nuclear Fusion, Capture Effect, Neutron Sources, Nuclear Astrophysics, Scattering Cross Sections, Quantum Chromodynamics, Quarks, Gluons, Hadrons, Alpha Particles, Oxygen Isotopes, Hydrogen Isotopes, Helium Isotopes, Lithium Isotopes

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(alpha,n) reactions in the keV energy region play important roles in astrophysical nucleosynthesis. In the primordial nucleosynthesis, it has been pointed out that a fluctuation of the baryon density distribution could be formed if the QCD phase transition from quark-gluon plasma to hadron gas occurred by first order. In that case the space was separated into the high density proton-rich zones and the low density neutron-rich ones, and in the neutron-rich zones nucleosynthesis could proceed beyond the mass gap at A = 8 via the reaction chains such as H-1(n,gamma)H-2(n,gamma)H-3(d,n)He-4(t,gamma)Li-7(n,gamma)Li-8(alpha,n)B- 11(n,ga mma)B-12(e(sup-)nu)C-12(n,gamma)C-13(n,gamma)C-14(n,gamma)C-15 ......, and so on. In the above nuclear reactions, the Li-8(alpha,n)B reaction plays quite a crucial role, because it can break through the mass gap at A = 8. (alpha,n) reactions of some light nuclei are also important as neutron sources for slow neutron capture process (s-process) of nucleosynthesis in stars. In low-mass and intermediate-mass (M < 10 Solar Mass) stars, neutrons are supposed to be supplied mainly by the C-13(alpha,n)O-16 reaction. On the other hand, the Ne-22(alpha,n)Mg-25 reaction is a candidate of the neutron source in massive stars with M > or = 10 Solar Mass. The contribution of the O-18(alpha,n)Ne-21 reaction to s-process in massive stars is still unknown. Since the temperatures of the above astrophysical sites correspond to the energy range of between a few ten and a few hundred keV, accurate data of the (alpha,n) reaction cross sections in the energy range are required for investigating nucleosynthesis. In order to measure these cross sections, not only direct (alpha,n) reactions but also inverse (n,alpha) reactions can be studied. In the following we would like to show experimental designs for studying several (alpha,n) reactions of astrophysical importance.

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