First evidences for 19F(α, p)22Ne at astrophysical energies

Abstract

19F experimental abundances is overestimated in respect to the theoretical one: it is therefore clear that further investigations are needed. We focused on the 19F(α, p)22 Ne reaction, representing the main destruction channel in He-rich environments. The lowest energy at which this reaction has been studied with direct methods is EC.M. ≈ 0.91 MeV, while the Gamow region is between 0.39 ÷ 0.8 MeV, far below the Coulomb barrier (3.8 MeV). For this reason, an experiment at Rudjer Boskovic Institute (Zagreb) was performed, applying the Trojan Horse Method. Following this method we selected the quasi-free contribution coming from 6Li(19F,p22 Ne)2 H at Ebeam=6 MeV at kinematically favourable angles, and the cross section at energies 0 < EC.M. < 1.4 MeV was extracted in arbitrary units, covering the astrophysical region of interest.