Nuclear clustering affects the nucleosynthesis occurring in a number of astrophysical environments. Highly-clusterized nuclear states typically occur near particle thresholds and therefore can ...produce dramatic impacts on the nuclear reaction rates. This is especially true for astrophysical explosions that are driven by the consumption of helium as fuel. Such burning can occur in X-ray bursts, supernovae type Ia, and core-collapse supernovae for instance. This article will focus on the explosive astrophysical events in which nuclear clustering is most important, will discuss the types of information and tools necessary to estimate the astrophysical reaction rates, and will discuss example experiments at Notre Dame and other facilities that have or will be performed to measure the critical nuclear data needed for such estimates.
The ^{30}P(p,γ)^{31}S reaction plays an important role in understanding the nucleosynthesis of A≥30 nuclides in oxygen-neon novae. The Gaseous Detector with Germanium Tagging was used to measure ...^{31}Cl β-delayed proton decay through the key J^{π}=3/2^{+}, 260-keV resonance. The intensity I_{βp}^{260}=8.3_{-0.9}^{+1.2}×10^{-6} represents the weakest β-delayed, charged-particle emission ever measured below 400 keV, resulting in a proton branching ratio of Γ_{p}/Γ=2.5_{-0.3}^{+0.4}×10^{-4}. By combining this measurement with shell-model calculations for Γ_{γ} and past work on other resonances, the total ^{30}P(p,γ)^{31}S rate has been determined with reduced uncertainty. The new rate has been used in hydrodynamic simulations to model the composition of nova ejecta, leading to a concrete prediction of ^{30}Si:^{28}Si excesses in presolar nova grains and the calibration of nuclear thermometers.
Construction and commissioning of the SuperORRUBA detector Bardayan, D.W.; Ahn, S.; Blackmon, J.C. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
05/2013, Volume:
711, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The SuperORRUBA (Oak Ridge Rutgers University Barrel Array) of double-sided silicon strip detectors has been constructed at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) at Oak Ridge National ...Laboratory (ORNL). The array will primarily be used to study single-nucleon transfer reactions in inverse kinematics at exotic beam facilities. The detector exhibits good intrinsic energy resolution (∼25keV) and large solid-angle coverage over the polar angular range 55–125°. The detector is now in routine use and has been used for several measurements at the HRIBF.
Atomic nuclei have a shell structure in which nuclei with ‘magic numbers’ of neutrons and protons are analogous to the noble gases in atomic physics. Only ten nuclei with the standard magic numbers ...of both neutrons and protons have so far been observed. The nuclear shell model is founded on the precept that neutrons and protons can move as independent particles in orbitals with discrete quantum numbers, subject to a mean field generated by all the other nucleons. Knowledge of the properties of single-particle states outside nuclear shell closures in exotic nuclei is important for a fundamental understanding of nuclear structure and nucleosynthesis (for example the r-process, which is responsible for the production of about half of the heavy elements). However, as a result of their short lifetimes, there is a paucity of knowledge about the nature of single-particle states outside exotic doubly magic nuclei. Here we measure the single-particle character of the levels in 133Sn that lie outside the double shell closure present at the short-lived nucleus 132Sn. We use an inverse kinematics technique that involves the transfer of a single nucleon to the nucleus. The purity of the measured single-particle states clearly illustrates the magic nature of 132Sn.
The β-delayed neutron emission of 83,84Ga isotopes was studied using the neutron time-of-flight technique. The measured neutron energy spectra showed emission from states at excitation energies high ...above the neutron separation energy and previously not observed in the β decay of midmass nuclei. The large decay strength deduced from the observed intense neutron emission is a signature of Gamow-Teller transformation. This observation was interpreted as evidence for allowed β decay to 78Ni core-excited states in 83,84Ge favored by shell effects. We developed shell model calculations in the proton fpg9/2 and neutron extended fpg9/2 + d5/2 valence space using realistic interactions that were used to understand measured β-decay lifetimes. We conclude that enhanced, concentrated β-decay strength for neutron-unbound states may be common for very neutron-rich nuclei. Furthermore, this leads to intense β-delayed high-energy neutron and strong multineutron emission probabilities that in turn affect astrophysical nucleosynthesis models.
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