Speaker
Description
The 3He(α,γ)7Be reaction plays a role in two distinct astrophysical scenarios, solar fusion processes as well as the Big Bang nucleosynthesis. The astrophysical S-factor of this reaction has been studied several times for energies above 0.3MeV and once for energies between 0.1MeV and 0.2MeV, but never directly for energies below 0.1MeV. The energies in between and below the measured range are relevant for solar fusion, but rely on extrapolation of the existing data. A recent theory work by Zhang et al. suggests a connection between the angular distribution of the emitted γ-rays from the 3He(α,γ)7Be reaction and the value of S(0), the S-factor at E=0.
At the 5 MV Felsenkeller underground accelerator implanted 3He targets and a setup of 21 HPGe detectors are used to study the angular distribution of this reaction, resulting in an improvement of the extrapolation to lower energies to have better predictions on the Big Bang 7Li nucleosynthesis and the solar 7Be and 8B neutrino fluxes. First results of the ongoing campaign will be outlined.
