Abstract
Thermonuclear reaction cross sections of astrophysical interest decrease exponentially with energy, approaching the level of femtobarn or less at the Gamow window. Experimental investigations of such small reaction rates in laboratories at the earth's surface are hampered by the cosmic-ray background into detectors. For such studies, Dakota Ion Accelerator for Nuclear Astrophysics, a deep underground, high detector efficiency, high target density, high beam intensity accelerator facility is being designed. We report on a 100 mA, 400 kV accelerator design. To take into account the beam space-charge effects, advanced three-dimensional transportation calculations have been performed. These highly realistic beam calculations demonstrate that high beam currents can be transported to a gas-jet target with a diameter of few millimeters.
Highlights
Current stellar model simulations are at a level of precision such that nuclear reaction rates represent a major source of uncertainty for theoretical predictions of energy production and nucleosynthesis in stars and the analysis of the associated observational signatures
We report on a 100 mA, 400 kV accelerator design
Since their successful inception at the Chalk River laboratory, simple electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources have been proved to be capable of very high beam currents [14]
Summary
Current stellar model simulations are at a level of precision such that nuclear reaction rates represent a major source of uncertainty for theoretical predictions of energy production and nucleosynthesis in stars and the analysis of the associated observational signatures. One solution is to install an accelerator facility deep underground where the cosmic-ray background into detectors is reduced by several orders of magnitude [6,7]. This has been clearly demonstrated at the Laboratory for. Many critical reactions still need high-precision measurements [1], and a generation facility, capable of very high beam currents over a wide energy range with state-ofthe-art target and detection technology, is highly desirable. The Dakota Ion Accelerator for Nuclear Astrophysics (DIANA) facility is being designed to face the low laboratory reaction rates near the stellar energy range by delivering high ion beam currents to a high density, supersonic gas-jet target, as well as to solid-target stations. Three fundamental scientific issues in stellar nucleosynthesis will be addressed by DIANA: (i) solar neutrino sources and the metallicity of the sun, (ii) carbon-based nucleosynthesis, and (iii) neutron sources for the production of elements heavier than Fe in stars
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