Properties of states near $E_x$ = 6 MeV in ${}^{18}$Ne through ${}^{17}$F+p scattering

Abstract

Background: The rate of energy production in the hot-CNO cycle and breakout to the rapid-proton capture process in Type I X-ray bursts is strongly related to the ${}^{14}$O($\alpha ,p$)${}^{17}$F reaction rate. The properties of states in ${}^{18}$Ne near $E_x=6.1-6.3$ MeV are important for understanding this reaction rate. Experiment: The RESOLUT radioactive-ion beam facility at Florida State University was used to study ${}^{18}$Ne resonances around this energy region using ${}^{17}$F(p,p)${}^{17}$F elastic scattering on a polypropylene target under inverse kinematics. Scattered protons were detected in a silicon-strip detector array while recoiling ${}^{17}$F ions were detected in coincidence in a gas ionization detector. Analysis: An $R$-matrix analysis of measured cross sections was conducted along with a reanalysis of data from previous measurements. Results: All the data analyzed are well described by a consistent set of parameters with with a $1^{-}$ assignment for a state at 6.14(1) MeV. A second comparable solution is also found with a $3^{-}$ assignment for the 6.14(1) MeV state. The rate of the ${}^{14}$O($\alpha$,p)${}^{17}$F reaction that is determined from the two solutions differs by up to an order of magnitude.

Update name of one of the authors

References in corpus (4)

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• X-ray binaries
• Performing Bayesian analyses with AZURE2 using BRICK: an application to the ${}^7$Be system
• Examination of the role of the ${}^{14}$O($\alpha$,$p$)${}^{17}$F reaction rate in type I x-ray bursts