Optical Readout Time Projection Chamber (O-TPC) for a study of oxygen formation in stellar helium burning

We are developing an Optical Readout Time Projection Chamber (O-TPC) detector for the study of the ¹²C(α, γ) ¹⁶O reaction that determines the ratio of carbon to oxygen in helium burning. This ratio is crucial for understanding the final fate of a progenitor star and the nucleosynthesis of elements prior to a Type II supernova; an oxygen rich star is predicted to collapse to a black hole, and a carbon rich star to a neutron star. Type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) are used as standard candles for measuring cosmological distances with the use of an empirical light curve-luminosity stretching factor. It is essential to understand helium burning that yields the carbon/oxygen white dwarf and thus the initial stage of SNeIa. The O-TPC is intended for use with high intensity photon beams extracted from the HIγS/TUNL facility at Duke University to study the ¹⁶O(γ, α) ¹²C reaction, and thus the direct reaction at energies as low as 0.7 MeV. We are conducting a systematical study of the best oxygen containing gas with light emitting admixture(s) for use in such an O-TPC. Preliminary results with CO₂+TEA mixture were obtained.