Studying (α,γ) reactions at Notre Dame

by Gwenaelle Gilardy (University of Bordeaux, ISNAP&JINA, University of Notre Dame)

Wednesday 14 Jun 2017, 14:30 → 15:30 Europe/Zurich

26/1-22 (CERN)

At the end of its life, during their violent death through a supernovae explosion, massive stars collapse into neutron stars. The neutrino flux released during this collapse is so significant that the probability of a neutrino interacting with a nucleus is enhanced enough to have an influence on element nucleosynthesis. This phenomenon is known as the ν-process.

The ν-process is believed to be responsible for a significant part of the observed abundance of certain element in nature, in particular 11B.

Neutrino triggered reactions lead to the creation of 11B through a reaction chain terminating with 7Li(α,γ)11B. Understanding the rate of this reaction will help to constrain the ν-process. This reaction was recently studied at Notre Dame through direct measurement and the preliminary results will be presented.

Another method to study (α,γ) reactions is through inverse kinematics using a recoil mass separator. At Notre Dame, the recoil mass separators, St. George, is being commissioned to measure (α,γ) with heavy beams and low background. I will discuss the current progress of St. George commissioning

Abstract.pdf