Fluorine Destruction in Stars Studied via Trojan Horse Method

Abstract

The least abundant of elements with 12≤A≤56 is the 19 F. Its abundance exceeds by far the predicted one. This problem represents one of the open questions for stellar modelling. A source of large uncertainties at the relevant energies for astrophysics are the 19 F(p, α) 16 O and 19 F(α, p) 22 Ne reaction rate. Since the lowest energy point from direct experiments are at much higher energies, the astrophysical relevant energy region is only known by R-Matrix calculations. In this work we apply the Trojan Horse Method (THM) to the appropriate quasi-free three-body reactions. The THM application allowed us to study the sub-Coulomb energy region and to get the corresponding S(E)-factor values, thus allowing for a detailed evaluation of its astrophysical impact.