Decay spectroscopy for nuclear astrophysics: β-delayed proton decay

L. Trache*, E. Simmons, A. Spiridon, M. McCleskey, B.T. Roeder, R.E. Tribble, A. Saastamoinen, A. Jokinen, J. Aysto, T. Davinson, P.J. Woods, E. Pollacco, M. Kebbiri, G. Pascovici

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Decay spectroscopy is one of the oldest indirect methods in nuclear astrophysics. We have developed at TAMU techniques to measure beta- and beta-delayed proton decay of sd-shell, proton-rich nuclei. The short-lived radioactive species are produced in-flight, separated, then slowed down (from about 40 MeV/u) and implanted in the middle of very thin Si detectors. These allowed us to measure protons with energies as low as 200 keV from nuclei with lifetimes of 100 ms or less. At the same time we measure gamma-rays up to 8 MeV with high resolution HPGe detectors. We have studied the decay of Al, P, Cl, all important for understanding explosive H-burning in novae. The technique has shown a remarkable selectivity to beta-delayed charged-particle emission and works even at radioactive beam rates of a few pps. The states populated are resonances for the radiative proton capture reactions Na(p,γ) Mg (crucial for the depletion of Na in novae), Al(p, γ) Si and P(p,γ) S (bottleneck in novae and XRB burning), respectively. More recently we have radically improved the technique using a gas based detector we call AstroBox.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAIP Conference Proceedings
EditorsB Blank
Place of PublicationMELVILLE
PublisherAmerican Institute of Physics
Pages67-70
Number of pages4
Volume1409
ISBN (Print)978-0-7354-0983-5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011
Event4th International Conference on Proton Emitting Nuclei and Related Topics - Bordeaux, France
Duration: 6 Jun 201110 Jun 2011

Publication series

NameAIP Conference Proceedings
PublisherAMER INST PHYSICS
Volume1409
ISSN (Print)0094-243X

Conference

Conference4th International Conference on Proton Emitting Nuclei and Related Topics
Country/TerritoryFrance
Period6/06/1110/06/11

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • nuclear astrophysics
  • b-delayed proton decay
  • H-burning
  • resonant proton capture

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