A new cross-section measurement of the astrophysically important 3He(α, γ)7Be reaction at high energies

Abstract

The 3He(α, γ)7Be reaction plays a crucial role both in primordial nucleosynthesis and in the pp-chains of hydrogen burning in main-sequence stars like our Sun. Existing experimental data for the 3He(α, γ)7Be cross section show a significant discrepancy at high energies, which results in a serious uncertainty in the cross-section extrapolations to low, astrophysical energies. Therefore, high-energy experimental data are clearly needed to resolve this discrepancy. A new experimental program has been started at ATOMKI to measure this reaction cross section with the activation technique. Some details of this ongoing experiment are presented here.