Analysis of cross-section, S-factor and thermonuclear reaction rate of ⁸Li(α,n)¹¹B and ¹⁴N(p,γ)¹⁵O using TALYS and EMPIRE nuclear reaction codes

Abstract

Theoretical nuclear reaction codes are crucial for studying cross-section and S-factors of nuclear reactions required for the thermonuclear reaction rate calculations. We analyze two reactions 8Li([Formula: see text])[Formula: see text]B and [Formula: see text]N([Formula: see text])[Formula: see text]O, using both TALYS and EMPIRE codes. We stress that these reactions are highly important for CNO cycle but the extent of involvement of experimental datasets are meager and conflicting. For the first reaction, the trend of experimental data has been predicted satisfactorily by the codes. The reaction rate is also matched with REACLIB calculation. However, in [Formula: see text]N([Formula: see text])[Formula: see text]O, none of the codes could predict the resonant structures in the experimental data at the lower energies. The importance of our work is a sincere attempt to validate the TALYS and EMPIRE predictions for cross-section, S-factor and the reaction rate, simultaneously.

The reaction rate of radiative n8Li capture in the range from 0.01 to 10 T9

“…The key role of the 8 Li(α,n) 11 B reaction is recognized in the production of seed nuclei at T 9 = 2.5-5, later burnt to heavier elements via r-capture reactions, during type II supernova explosions (La Cognata and Del Zoppo, 2011). It is worth noting that the reaction 8 Li(α,n) 11 B has been more extensively studied than the radiative neutron capture on 8 Li, but their rates differ from each other within an order of magnitude (Das et al, 2017;Mondal et al, 2022). Hence, the continuation of the 7 Li(n,γ) 8 Li chain remains an open area of investigation, and further studies are needed.…”