Precision Measurements of d(d,p)t and d(d,n)^3He Total Cross Sections at Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis Energies

Abstract

Recent Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) measurements have determined the baryon density of the Universe ${\Omega }_b$ with a precision of about 4%. With ${\Omega }_b$ tightly constrained, comparisons of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) abundance predictions to primordial abundance observations can be made and used to test BBN models and/or to further constrain abundances of isotopes with weak observational limits. To push the limits and improve constraints on BBN models, uncertainties in key nuclear reaction rates must be minimized. To this end, we made new precise measurements of the d(d,p)t and d(d,n)^3He total cross sections at lab energies from 110 keV to 650 keV. A complete fit was performed in energy and angle to both angular distribution and normalization data for both reactions simultaneously. By including parameters for experimental variables in the fit, error correlations between detectors, reactions, and reaction energies were accurately tabulated by computational methods. With uncertainties around 2% +/- 1% scale error, these new measurements significantly improve on the existing data set. At relevant temperatures, using the data of the present work, both reaction rates are found to be about 7% higher than those in the widely used Nuclear Astrophysics Compilation of Reaction Rates (NACRE). These data will thus lead not only to reduced uncertainties, but also to modifications in the BBN abundance predictions.

arXiv comment15 pages, 11 figures, minor editorial changes

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Cited by in corpus (23)

• NACRE II: an update of the NACRE compilation of charged-particle-induced thermonuclear reaction rates for nuclei with mass number $A<16$
• PArthENoPE: Public Algorithm Evaluating the Nucleosynthesis of Primordial Elements
• First stars VII. Lithium in extremely metal poor dwarfs
• Standard big bang nucleosynthesis and primordial CNO Abundances after Planck
• The primordial deuterium abundance of the most metal-poor damped Lyman-alpha system
• BBN And The CMB Constrain Light, Electromagnetically Coupled WIMPs
• Probing Physics Beyond the Standard Model: Limits from BBN and the CMB Independently and Combined
• Frontiers in Nuclear Astrophysics
• New reaction rates for improved primordial D/H calculation and the cosmic evolution of deuterium
• A new tension in the cosmological model from primordial deuterium?
• Primordial nucleosynthesis
• The Impact of Recent Advances in Laboratory Astrophysics on our Understanding of the Cosmos
• Probing nuclear rates with Planck and BICEP2
• Neutron-induced background by an alpha-beam incident on a deuterium gas target and its implications for the study of the 2H(alpha,gamma)6Li reaction at LUNA
• Bayesian estimation of thermonuclear reaction rates for deuterium+deuterium reactions
• Model-independent determination of the astrophysical S-factor in laser-induced fusion plasmas
• Nuclear probes of an out-of-equilibrium plasma at the highest compression
• Recent results in nuclear astrophysics
• Measurement of the ${}^2$H($p,\gamma$)${}^3$He S-factor at 265-1094keV
• Theoretical study of the d(d,p)3H and d(d,n)3He processes at low energies
• Cosmic Rays during BBN as Origin of Lithium Problem
• Primordial Nucleosynthesis
• R-matrix analysis of elastic scattering, phase shift and radiative capture reaction cross sections in the $\alpha +\alpha$ system