Studies of X-ray burst reactions with radioactive ion beams from RESOLUT

¹ Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USA
² Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306 USA
³ University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224 USA
⁴ National Center for Nuclear Research, Otwock, Poland

^* e-mail: blackmon@lsu.edu

Published online: 30 December 2017

Abstract

Reactions on certain proton-rich, radioactive nuclei have been shown to have a significant influence on X-ray bursts. We provide an overview of two recent measurements of important X-ray burst reactions using in-flight radioactive ion beams from the RESOLUT facility at the J. D. Fox Superconducting Accelerator Laboratory at Florida State University. The ¹⁷F(d,n)¹⁸Ne reaction was measured, and Asymptotic Normalization Coefficients were extracted for bound states in ¹⁸Ne that determine the direct-capture cross section dominating the ¹⁷F(p,γ)¹⁸Ne reaction rate for T≲ 0.45 GK. Unbound resonant states were also studied, and the single-particle strength for the 4.523-MeV (3⁺) state was found to be consistent with previous results. The ¹⁹Ne(d,n)²⁰Na proton transfer reaction was used to study resonances in the ¹⁹Ne(p,γ)²⁰Na reaction. The most important 2.65-MeV state in ²⁰Na was observed to decay by proton emission to both the ground and first-excited states in ¹⁹Ne, providing strong evidence for a 3⁺ spin assignment and indicating that proton capture on the thermally-populated first-excited state in ¹⁹Ne is an important contributor to the ¹⁹Ne(p,γ)²⁰Na reaction rate.