Excited states of and their significance in nova nucleosynthesis
- North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States). Department of Physics; Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States). Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory
- McMaster Univ., Hamilton, ON (Canada). Department of Physics & Astronomy
Background: We report that discrepancies exist between the observed abundances of argon and calcium in oxygen-neon nova ejecta and those predicted by nova models. An improved characterization of the 38K(p,γ) 39Ca reaction rate over the nova temperature regime (~ 0.1-0.4 GK), and thus the nuclear structure of 39Ca above the proton threshold (5770.92(63) keV), is necessary to resolve these contradictions. Purpose: The present study was performed to search for low-spin proton resonances in the 38K + p system, and to improve the uncertainties in energies of the known astrophysically significant proton resonances in 39Ca. Methods: The level structure of 39Ca was investigated via high-resolution charged-particle spectroscopy with an Enge split-pole spectrograph using the 40Ca(3He, α) 39Ca reaction. Differential cross sections were measured over 6 laboratory angles at 21 MeV. Distorted-wave Born approximation calculations were performed to constrain the spin-parity assignments of observed levels with special attention to those significant in determination of the 38K(p,γ) 39Ca reaction rate over the nova temperature regime. Results: The resonance energies corresponding to two out of three astrophysically important states at 6154(5) and 6472.2(24) keV are measured with better precision than previous charged-particle spectroscopy measurements. A tentatively new state is discovered at 5908(3) keV. The spin-parity assignments of a few of the astrophysically important resonances are determined. Conclusions: Lastly, the present 38K(p,γ) 39Ca upper limit thermonuclear reaction rate at 0.1-0.4 GK is higher than that determined in [Physical Review C 97 (2018) 025802] by at most a factor of 1.4 at 0.1 GK.
- Research Organization:
- North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0017799; FG02-97ER41041
- OSTI ID:
- 1483394
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1492152
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review C, Vol. 98, Issue 5; ISSN 2469-9985
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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