Completing the nuclear reaction puzzle of the nucleosynthesis of 92Mo

Abstract

One of the greatest questions for modern physics to address is how elements heavier than iron are created in extreme, astrophysical environments. A particularly challenging part of that question is the creation of the so-called p-nuclei, which are believed to be mainly produced in some types of supernovae. The lack of needed nuclear data presents an obstacle in nailing down the precise site and astrophysical conditions. In this work, we present for the first time measurements on the nuclear level density and average strength function of ${}^{92}$Mo. State-of-the-art p-process calculations systematically underestimate the observed solar abundance of this isotope. Our data provide stringent constraints on the ${}^{91}$Nb$(p,\gamma {)}^{92}$Mo reaction rate, which is the last unmeasured reaction in the nucleosynthesis puzzle of ${}^{92}$Mo. Based on our results, we conclude that the ${}^{92}$Mo abundance anomaly is not due to the nuclear physics input to astrophysical model calculations.

Submitted to PRC

References in corpus (10)

• Towards a More Complete and Accurate Experimental Nuclear Reaction Data Library (EXFOR): International Collaboration Between Nuclear Reaction Data Centres (NRDC)
• Sensitivity of p-Process Nucleosynthesis to Nuclear Reaction Rates in a 25 Solar Mass Supernova Model
• Analysis of possible systematic errors in the Oslo method
• Low-energy enhancement of magnetic dipole radiation
• Impact of a low-energy enhancement in the gamma-ray strength function on the radiative neutron-capture
• The SiRi Particle-Telescope System
• Evidence for dipole nature of the low-energy $\gamma$ enhancement in ${}^{56}$Fe
• Cross section and reaction rate of 92Mo(p,gamma)93Tc determined from thick target yield measurements
• Nucleosynthesis simulations for the production of the p-nuclei ${}^{\text{92}}$Mo and ${}^{\text{94}}$Mo in a Supernova type II model
• Low-energy behavior of $E2$ strength functions

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Reference Database for Photon Strength Functions
• Novel Techniques for Constraining Neutron-Capture Rates Relevant for r-Process Heavy-Element Nucleosynthesis
• Consolidating the concept of low-energy magnetic dipole decay radiation
• Low-energy enhancement and fluctuations of $\gamma$-ray strength functions in ${}^{56,57}$Fe: test of the Brink-Axel hypothesis
• Quasicontinuum $\gamma$-decay of ${}^{91,92}$Zr: benchmarking indirect ($n,\gamma$) cross section measurements for the $s$-process
• Consistent optical potential for incident and emitted low-energy $\alpha$ particles. II. $\alpha$-emission in fast-neutron induced reactions on Zr isotopes
• Optical potential for incident and emitted low-energy $\alpha$ particles. III. Non-statistical processes induced by neutrons on Zr, Nb, and Mo nuclei
• Effect of broken axial symmetry on the electric dipole strength and the collective enhancement of level densities in heavy nuclei