Measurement and analysis of nuclear γ-ray production cross sections in proton interactions with Mg, Si, and Fe nuclei abundant in astrophysical sites over the incident energy range E = 30–66 MeV
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Physical Society
Abstract
The modeling of nuclear
γ
-ray line emission induced by highly accelerated particles in astrophysical sites (e.g., solar flares, the gas and dust in the inner galaxy) and the comparison with observed emissions from these sites needs a comprehensive database of related production cross sections. The most important reactions of protons and
α
particles are those with abundant target elements like C, O, N, Ne, Mg, Si, and Fe at projectile energies extending from the reaction threshold to a few hundred MeV per nucleon. In this work, we have measured
γ
-ray production cross section excitation functions for 30, 42, 54, and 66 MeV proton beams accelerated onto
nat
C
,
C
+
O
(Mylar),
nat
Mg
,
nat
Si
, and
56
Fe
targets of astrophysical interest at the Separated Sector Cyclotron (SSC) of iThemba LABS (near Cape Town, South Africa). The AFRODITE array equipped with eight Compton suppressed high-purity (HPGe) clover detectors was used to record
γ
-ray line energy spectra. For known, intense lines previously reported experimental data measured up to
E
p
≃
25
MeV at the Washington and Orsay tandem accelerators were thus extended to higher proton energies. Our experimental data for the last three targets are reported here and discussed with respect to previous data and to the Murphy et al. compilation [Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 183, 142 (2009)],
Description
Keywords
Nuclear γ -ray, Astrophysical sites, South Africa, AFRODITE array, Nuclear reaction
Citation
Lawri, E. A. et al. (2020). Measurement and analysis of nuclear γ-ray production cross sections in proton interactions with Mg, Si, and Fe nuclei abundant in astrophysical sites over the incident energy range E = 30–66 MeV. PHYSICAL REVIEW C, 102(2), 025802