Measurement of the 86Kr(α,n)89Sr cross section at energies relevant for the weak r-process

Abstract

The r-process has been shown to be robust in reproducing the abundance distributions of heavy elements, such as europium, seen in ultra-metal poor stars. In contrast, observations of elements 26 < Z < 47 display overabundances relative to r-process model predictions. A proposed additional source of early nucleosynthesis is the weak r-process in neutrino-driven winds of core-collapse supernovae. It has been shown that in this site (α,n) reactions are both crucial to nucleosynthesis and the main source of uncertainty in model-based abundance predictions. Aiming to improve the certainty of nucleosynthesis predictions, the cross section of the important reaction 86Kr(α,n)89Sr has been measured at an energy relevant to the weak r-process. This experiment was conducted in inverse kinematics at TRIUMF with the EMMA recoil mass spectrometer and the TIGRESS gamma-ray spectrometer. A novel type of solid helium target was used.