Abstract
Knowledge of the reaction rate is important for understanding stellar explosions, but it was uncertain because the properties of an expected but previously unobserved state in were not known. This state would provide a strong s-wave resonance for the system and, depending on its excitation energy, could dominate the stellar reaction rate at temperatures above 0.2 GK. We have observed this missing state by measuring the excitation function with a radioactive beam at the ORNL Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF). We find that the state lies at a center-of-mass energy of keV and has a width of The measured properties of the resonance are only consistent with a assignment.
- Received 19 June 2000
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.62.055804
©2000 American Physical Society