The excitation function of the 13C(α, n)16O reaction and its astrophysical application

Neutron-liberating reactions as well as neutron absorbing processes play important parts in the synthesis of elements in a star and in the different phases of its life sequence. Thus the ¹³C(α, n)¹⁶O reaction is of interest for instance in connection with processes such as hydrostatic and explosive burning, as well as in the synthesis of oxygen and other light elements. A good knowledge of the energy dependence of the cross section of the alpha-carbon reaction is evidently of importance. In the present work the neutron yield from a thick ¹³C target was measured for α-particles in the energy range 0.60 to 1.15 MeV with a sensitive 4π neutron detector. Stellar temperatures between 3.5 and 9.2 × 10⁸ K are involved in this energy region. The observed neutron yield curve was used to determine astrophysical cross section factors S(E) as well as parameters for the 1.056 MeV resonance. Starting from these quantities, an expression for the mean lifetime of ¹³C nuclei interacting with helium was derived.