Abstract
The reaction is among the most important reactions driving the energy generation in type-I x-ray bursts. However, the present reaction-rate uncertainty limits constraints on neutron star properties that can be achieved with burst model-observation comparisons. Here, we present a novel technique for constraining this important reaction by combining the GRETINA array with the neutron detector LENDA coupled to the S800 spectrograph at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. The reaction was used to populate the astrophysically important states in . This enables a measurement in complete kinematics for extracting all relevant inputs necessary to calculate the reaction rate. For the first time, a predicted close-lying doublet of a and state in was disentangled, finally resolving conflicting results from two previous measurements. Moreover, it was possible to extract spectroscopic factors using GRETINA and LENDA simultaneously. This new technique may be used to constrain other important reaction rates for various astrophysical scenarios.
- Received 28 January 2019
- Revised 10 April 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.232701
© 2019 American Physical Society