Abstract
Detection of nuclear-decay rays provides a sensitive thermometer of nova nucleosynthesis. The most intense -ray flux is thought to be annihilation radiation from the decay of , which is destroyed prior to decay by the reaction. Estimates of production had been uncertain, however, because key near-threshold levels in the compound nucleus, , had yet to be identified. We report the first measurement of the reaction, in which the placement of two long-sought levels is suggested via triton- coincidences. The precise determination of their resonance energies reduces the upper limit of the rate by a factor of 1.5–17 at nova temperatures and reduces the average uncertainty on the nova detection probability by a factor of 2.1.
- Received 17 August 2018
- Revised 15 November 2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.052701
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