• Open Access

First Accurate Normalization of the β-delayed α Decay of N16 and Implications for the C12(α,γ)O16 Astrophysical Reaction Rate

O. S. Kirsebom et al.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 142701 – Published 3 October 2018
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Abstract

The C12(α,γ)O16 reaction plays a central role in astrophysics, but its cross section at energies relevant for astrophysical applications is only poorly constrained by laboratory data. The reduced α width, γ11, of the bound 1 level in O16 is particularly important to determine the cross section. The magnitude of γ11 is determined via sub-Coulomb α-transfer reactions or the β-delayed α decay of N16, but the latter approach is presently hampered by the lack of sufficiently precise data on the β-decay branching ratios. Here we report improved branching ratios for the bound 1 level [bβ,11=(5.02±0.10)×102] and for β-delayed α emission [bβα=(1.59±0.06)×105]. Our value for bβα is 33% larger than previously held, leading to a substantial increase in γ11. Our revised value for γ11 is in good agreement with the value obtained in α-transfer studies and the weighted average of the two gives a robust and precise determination of γ11, which provides significantly improved constraints on the C12(α,γ) cross section in the energy range relevant to hydrostatic He burning.

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  • Received 9 April 2018
  • Revised 22 June 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.142701

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Nuclear Physics

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Vol. 121, Iss. 14 — 5 October 2018

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