Progress of the Felsenkeller shallow-underground accelerator for nuclear astrophysics

Abstract

Low-background experiments with stable ion beams are an important tool for putting the model of stellar hydrogen, helium, and carbon burning on a solid experimental foundation. The pioneering work in this regard has been done by the LUNA collaboration at Gran Sasso, using a 0.4 MV accelerator. In the present contribution, the status of the project for a higher-energy underground accelerator is reviewed. Two tunnels of the Felsenkeller underground site in Dresden, Germany, are currently being refurbished for the installation of a 5 MV high-current Pelletron accelerator. Construction work is on schedule and expected to complete in August 2017. The accelerator will provide intense, 50 uA, beams of 1H+, 4He+, and 12C+ ions, enabling research on astrophysically relevant nuclear reactions with unprecedented sensitivity.

Submitted to the Proceedings of Nuclei in the Cosmos XIV, 19-24 June 2016, Niigata/Japan

References in corpus (7)

• Activation measurement of the 3He(alpha,gamma)7Be cross section at low energy
• LUNA: Nuclear Astrophysics Deep Underground
• Ultra-sensitive in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy for nuclear astrophysics at LUNA
• Feasibility of low energy radiative capture experiments at the LUNA underground accelerator facility
• First Direct Measurement of the ^{17}O(p,γ)^{18}F Reaction Cross-Section at Gamow Energies for Classical Novae
• An actively vetoed Clover gamma-detector for nuclear astrophysics at LUNA
• Cosmic-ray induced background intercomparison with actively shielded HPGe detectors at underground locations

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Astrophysical S-factor of the ${}^{14}\text{N(p,}\gamma {\text{)}}^{15}\text{O}$ reaction at 0.4 -- 1.3\,MeV