Pair decay width of the Hoyle state and carbon production in stars

Abstract

Electron scattering off the first excited 0+ state in 12C (the Hoyle state) has been performed at low momentum transfers at the S-DALINAC. The new data together with a novel model-independent analysis of the world data set covering a wide momentum transfer range result in a highly improved transition charge density from which a pair decay width Gamma_pi = (62.3 +- 2.0) micro-eV of the Hoyle state was extracted reducing the uncertainty of the literature values by more than a factor of three. A precise knowledge of Gamma_pi is mandatory for quantitative studies of some key issues in the modeling of supernovae and of asymptotic giant branch stars, the most likely site of the slow-neutron nucleosynthesis process.

4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett

References in corpus (2)

• On the Sensitivity of Massive Star Nucleosynthesis and Evolution to Solar Abundances and to Uncertainties in Helium Burning Reaction Rates
• Dependence of S-Process Nucleosynthesis in Massive Stars on Triple-Alpha and 12C(a,g)16O Reaction Rate Uncertainties

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• Consistent description of 12C and 16O using finite range three-body interaction
• Improved version of simplified method for including tensor effect in cluster models
• Precision measurement of the $E2$ transition strength to the 2${}_1^{+}$ state of ${}^{12}$C
• Consistent description for cluster dynamics and single-particle correlation
• The Hoyle state and its relatives
• The Hoyle state in Nuclear Lattice EFT
• Contribution of Nuclear Excitation Electromagnetic Form Factors in ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}$ and ${}^{16}\mathrm{O}$ to the Coulomb Sum Rule
• Monopole transition strength function of ${}^{12}$C in three-$\alpha$ model
• Shape of 12C
• $\alpha$ and triton clustering in ${}^{35}$Cl
• Low-energy ${}^{12}$C continuum states in three-$\alpha$ model
• Examination of the $\alpha$-cluster breaking in the four $0^{+}$ bands of ${}^{12}$C with the variation of multiple bases of the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics
• Non-forward radiative corrections to electron-carbon scattering