Fusion measurements of ¹²C+¹²C at energies of astrophysical interest

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
² Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA
³ TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC V6T 2A3, Canada
⁴ IPHC and CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, F-67037 Strasbourg, France
⁵ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94551, USA
⁶ University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
⁷ Department of Physics, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK
⁸ IN2P3-CNRS and University of Paris Sud, F-91405 Orsay-campus, France
⁹ Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
¹⁰ Institute of Modern Physics, Lanzhou, China

^* Present address: Department of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA

Published online: 11 May 2016

Abstract

The cross section of the ¹²C+¹²C fusion reaction at low energies is of paramount importance for models of stellar nucleosynthesis in different astrophysical scenarios, such as Type Ia supernovae and Xray superbursts, where this reaction is a primary route for the production of heavier elements. In a series of experiments performed at Argonne National Laboratory, using Gammasphere and an array of Silicon detectors, measurements of the fusion cross section of ¹²C+¹²C were successfully carried out with the γ and charged-particle coincidence technique in the center-of-mass energy range of 3-5 MeV. These were the first background-free fusion cross section measurements for ¹²C+¹²C at energies of astrophysical interest. Our results are consistent with previous measurements in the high-energy region; however, our lowest energy measurement indicates a fusion cross section slightly lower than those obtained with other techniques.