Recent Progress of the Trojan Horse Method and Its Application

Abstract

The Trojan Horse Method(THM) is an important indirect method in experimental nuclear astrophysics. The S(E) factor of a two-body reaction in Gammow energy range related to astrophysics can be extracted from an appropriate three-body reaction measurement above the Coulomb barrier, under the quasi-free reaction condition. The method can overcome the difficulties caused by the Coulomb barrier suppression and the electron screening effect in direct measurement. While no extrapolation is needed, the method can also avoid the uncertainty in the extrapolation process. THM has a wide application in the experimental nuclear astrophysical study, low-energy fusion data measurement, neutron-induced reaction, electron screening effect and other important research fields. After a short introduction of the THM, this paper will focus on some of the most important experimental results in nuclear astrophysics measured by THM recently and the prospect of its future applications. The following key reactions will mainly be discussed: the indirect measurement of the key neutron source reaction \begin{document}$ ^{{\rm{13}}}{\rm{C(\alpha ,n}}{{\rm{)}}^{{\rm{16}}}}{\rm{O}}$\end{document} in the s-process of AGB stars, the indirect measurement of the nuclear reaction related to the fluorine abundance anomaly in AGB stars, as well as the recent hot spot, the indirect measurement results of the carbon burning reaction in medium or massive stars.