Topics in stellar He burning

摘要

In core He burning of massive stars N-14, produced in the preceding H burning phase, is converted to Ne-22 by the reaction sequence N-14(alpha, gamma)F-18(beta (+))O-18(alpha, gamma)Ne-22. The subsequent Ne-22(alpha, n) reaction is considered the main neutron source for the weak s-process. We have measured the energies and strengths of the two known lowest resonances in N-14(alpha, gamma)F-18 to resolve inconsistencies of previous measurements in order to improve the accuracy of the reaction rate for this reaction. The present reaction rate is about a factor of 2 smaller than previously reported. [References: 14]