Abstract
Direct measurements of reaction cross-sections at astrophysical energies often require the use of solid targets able to withstand high ion beam currents for extended periods of time. Thus, monitoring target thickness, isotopic composition, and target stoichiometry during data taking is critical to account for possible target modifications and to reduce uncertainties in the final cross-section results. A common technique used for these purposes is the Nuclear Resonant Reaction Analysis (NRRA), which however requires that a narrow resonance be available inside the dynamic range of the accelerator used. In cases when this is not possible, as for example the \(^{13}\hbox {C}(\alpha ,\hbox {n})^{16}\hbox {O}\) reaction recently studied at low energies at the Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics (LUNA) in Italy, alternative approaches must be found. Here, we present a new application of the shape analysis of primary \(\gamma \) rays emitted by the \(^{13}\hbox {C}(\hbox {p},\gamma )^{14}\hbox {N}\) radiative capture reaction. This approach was used to monitor \(^{13}\hbox {C}\) target degradation in situ during the \(^{13}\hbox {C}(\alpha ,\hbox {n})^{16}\hbox {O}\) data taking campaign. The results obtained are in agreement with evaluations subsequently performed at Atomki (Hungary) using the NRRA method. A preliminary application for the extraction of the \(^{13}\hbox {C}(\alpha ,\hbox {n})^{16}\hbox {O}\) reaction cross-section at one beam energy is also reported.
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This manuscript has no associated data or the data will not be deposited. [Authors’ comment: All the relevant data are included in the presented manuscript or in the references. Additional data not directly displayed in this manuscript are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.]
Notes
A narrow resonance is defined as one whose total width \(\varGamma \) is much smaller that the target thickness \(\varDelta E\) in energy units. The latter represents the energy lost by the ion beam in going through the target and depends on the initial beam energy as well as on the target composition and physical thickness.
For targets consisting of chemical compounds, active nuclei are defined as those of a given species that take part in the nuclear reaction under study. All other nuclear species present in the target do not contribute to the reaction yield and are regarded as inactive.
For the present work a target composed of \(^{13}\hbox {C}\) and Ta was assumed (see Sect. 2.1) and further corrections to Bragg’s rule, typically required for carbon compounds with O and H, can safely be neglected.
Indeed, as the cross-section of \(^{13}\hbox {C}(\alpha ,\hbox {n})^{16}\hbox {O}\) reaction drops exponentially with energy, the outermost layers of the target gives the main contribution to the reaction yield. Thus, only the stoichiometric ratio of layer I are of interest here.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Donatello Ciccotti and the LNGS and INFN Naples mechanical workshops for technical support. The authors are grateful to Jaakko Julin and Frans Munnik for ERDA measurements at the Ion Beam Center of Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf (HZDR). Support from the National Research, Development and Innovation Office NKFIH (contract numbers PD 129060 and K120666) is also acknowledged, as well as funding from STFC (ST/P004008/1), DFG (BE 4100/4-1), HGF (ERC-RA-0016) and the grant STAR from the University of Naples/Compagnia di San Paolo. This work is supported by “ChETEC” COST Action (CA16117).
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Ciani, G.F., Csedreki, L., Balibrea-Correa, J. et al. A new approach to monitor \(^{13}\hbox {C}\)-targets degradation in situ for \(^{13}\hbox {C}(\alpha ,\hbox {n})^{16}\hbox {O}\) cross-section measurements at LUNA. Eur. Phys. J. A 56, 75 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-020-00077-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-020-00077-0