Improved precision on the experimental E0 decay branching ratio of the Hoyle state

Tomas Eriksen, Tibor Kibedi, Matthew Reed, Andrew Stuchbery, Kimberley Cook, Aqeel Akber, Badriah Alshahrani, Abraham A. Avaa, Kaushik Banerjee, Annette Berriman, Lauren Bezzina, Lindsey Bignell, Jacob Buete, Ian Carter, Ben Coombes, Jackson Dowie, Mahananda Dasgupta, L. J. Evitts, B.A. Garnsworthy, Matthew GerathyTimothy Gray, David Hinde, T H Hoang, Sankha Hota, E Ideguchi, P. Jones, Gregory Lane, Brendan McCormick, AJ Mitchell, Nyaladzi Palalani, Thomas Palazzo, Michaela Ripper, Ed Simpson, J. Smallcombe, Ben Swinton-Bland, Taiki Tanaka, Tamas Gabor Tornyi, Mitchell de Vries

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    Abstract

    Background: Stellar carbon synthesis occurs exclusively via the 3α process, in which three α particles fuse to form 12C in the excited Hoyle state, followed by electromagnetic decay to the ground state. The Hoyle state is above the α threshold, and the rate of stellar carbon production depends on the radiative width of this state. The radiative width cannot be measured directly, and must instead be deduced by combining three separately measured quantities. One of these quantities is the E0 decay branching ratio of the Hoyle state, and the current 10% uncertainty on the radiative width stems mainly from the uncertainty on this ratio. The rate of the 3α process is an important input parameter in astrophysical calculations on stellar evolution, and a high precision is imperative to constrain the possible outcomes of astrophysical models.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1-11
    JournalPhysical Review C: Nuclear Physics
    Volume102
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020

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