Speaker
Description
Nucleosynthesis in Type I X-ray bursts (XRB) proceeds eventually through the rp-process near the proton drip-line. Several N=Z nuclei act as waiting points in the reaction network chain. Astrophysical calculations of XRB light curves depend upon the theoretical modelling of the beta decays of interest, with the N=Z and their second-neighbours N=Z+2 being key nuclei in this context.
Several such theoretical calculations have shown that, in the high-density and high-temperature scenario of the XRB, continuum electron capture and decay rates from excited states play an important role, in particular for nuclear species at and around the waiting-point nuclei.
In this contribution I will present the experimental results of different campaigns carried out at ISOLDE (CERN) to measure properly the B(GT) distributions in the decay of several N=Z & N=Z+2 of particular relevance in rp-process calculations. These results provide benchmarks for testing and constraining models under terrestrial conditions that can be used later for predictions in stellar environments.
