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Measurements and Analysis of alpha-Induced Reactions of Importance for Nuclear Astrophysics

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thesis
posted on 2011-08-25, 00:00 authored by Richard James deBoer
Reactions during stellar helium burning are of primary importance for understanding nucleosynthesis. A detailed understanding of the critical reaction chain 4He(2α, γ)12C(α, γ)16O(α, γ)20Ne is necessary both because it is the primary energy source and because it determines the ratio of 12C to 16O produced, which in turn significantly effects subsequent nucleosynthesis. Also during Helium burning, the reactions 22Ne(α, n)25Mg and 22Ne(α, γ)26Mg are crucial in determining the amount of neutrons available for the astrophysical s-process. This thesis presents new experimental results concerning the 16O(α, γ)20Ne, 22Ne(α, n)25Mg, and 22Ne(α, γ)26Mg reaction rates. These results are then applied to the calculation of the associated stellar reaction rates in order to achieve better accuracy.

History

Date Modified

2017-06-02

Defense Date

2011-07-26

Research Director(s)

Michael Wiescher

Committee Members

Philippe Collon Umesh Garg Grant Mathews

Degree

  • Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Level

  • Doctoral Dissertation

Language

  • English

Alternate Identifier

etd-08252011-140959

Publisher

University of Notre Dame

Program Name

  • Physics

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