Low-energy proton capture reactions in the mass region 55–60

Low-energy proton capture reactions in the mass 55–60 region are studied in a microscopic optical model. The nuclear density profile is calculated using the relativistic mean field theory. The DDM3Y interaction is folded with the theoretical density to obtain the proton-nucleus optical potential. A definite set of normalization parameters has been obtained for the concerned mass region by comparing with all available experimental data in this mass region. These parameters have been used to obtain proton capture rates for astrophysically important reactions in this mass region.

Figure 1

Theoretical density profile of various nuclei in the mass 55–60 region from the RMF approach compared with experimental data obtained by elastic electron scattering taken from Wohlfahrt et al. [23]. The solid line denote the theoretical result, and discrete points with error bars represent the experimental data. In most of the cases, especially for lower radii values, the errors associated are smaller than the dimension of the empty circles.

Figure 2

Comparison of theoretical astrophysical $S$-factor calculations in the present work with experimental data for proton capture on ${}^{55}\mathrm{Mn},{}^{58}\mathrm{Fe},{}^{59}\mathrm{Co},{}^{58}\mathrm{Ni}$, and ${}^{60}\mathrm{Ni}$. See text for the explanation of different symbols and the Supplemental Material in Ref. [25] for numerical values of the $S$ factor.

Figure 3

Comparison of astrophysical rates from the present calculation with non-smoker results from Rauscher et al. [8, 9] for the reactions (a) ${}^{56}\mathrm{Ni}({p,\gamma )}^{57}\mathrm{Cu}$, (b) ${}^{57}\mathrm{Cu}({p,\gamma )}^{58}\mathrm{Zn}$, and (c) ${}^{59}\mathrm{Cu}({p,\gamma )}^{60}\mathrm{Zn}$. See text for details and the Supplemental Material in Ref. [25] for numerical values of rates.