Shell-model studies of the astrophysical rp -process reactions S34(p,γ)Cl35 and Cl34g,m(p,γ)Ar35

Abstract

Background: Dust grains condensed in the outflows of presolar classical novae should have been present in the protosolar nebula. Candidates for such presolar nova grains have been found in primitive meteorites and can in principle be identified by their isotopic ratios, but the ratios predicted by state-of-the-art one-dimensional hydrodynamic models are uncertain due to nuclear-physics uncertainties.Purpose: To theoretically calculate the thermonuclear rates and uncertainties of the $^{34}\mathrm{S}(p,\ensuremath{\gamma})^{35}\mathrm{Cl}$ and $^{34g,m}\mathrm{Cl}(p,\ensuremath{\gamma})^{35}\mathrm{Ar}$ reactions and investigate their impacts on the predicted $^{34}\mathrm{S}/^{32}\mathrm{S}$ isotopic ratio for presolar nova grains.Method: A shell-model approach in a ($0+1$) $\ensuremath{\hbar}\ensuremath{\omega}$ model space was used to calculate the properties of resonances in the $^{34}\mathrm{S}(p,\ensuremath{\gamma})^{35}\mathrm{Cl}$ and $^{34g,m}\mathrm{Cl}(p,\ensuremath{\gamma})^{35}\mathrm{Ar}$ reactions and their thermonuclear rates. Uncertainties were estimated using a Monte Carlo method. The implications of these rates and their uncertainties on sulfur isotopic nova yields were investigated using a postprocessing nucleosynthesis code. The rates for transitions from the ground state of $^{34}\mathrm{Cl}$ as well as from the isomeric first excited state of $^{34}\mathrm{Cl}$ were explicitly calculated.Results: At energies in the resonance region near the proton-emission threshold, many negative-parity states appear. Energies, spectroscopic factors, and proton-decay widths are reported. The resulting thermonuclear rates are compared with previous determinations.Conclusions: The shell-model calculations alone are sufficient to constrain the variation of the $^{34}\mathrm{S}/^{32}\mathrm{S}$ ratios to within about 30%. Uncertainties associated with other reactions must also be considered, but in general we find that the $^{34}\mathrm{S}/^{32}\mathrm{S}$ ratios are not a robust diagnostic to clearly identify presolar grains made from nova ejecta.