Abstract
The 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 width, , of the bound level in is particularly important to determine the cross section. The magnitude of is determined via sub-Coulomb -transfer reactions or the -delayed decay of , but the latter approach is presently hampered by the lack of sufficiently precise data on the -decay branching ratios. Here we report improved branching ratios for the bound level [] and for -delayed emission []. Our value for is 33% larger than previously held, leading to a substantial increase in . Our revised value for is in good agreement with the value obtained in -transfer studies and the weighted average of the two gives a robust and precise determination of , which provides significantly improved constraints on the cross section in the energy range relevant to hydrostatic He burning.
- 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