Indirect Study of the 16O+16O Fusion Reaction Toward Stellar Energies by the Trojan Horse Method

Abstract

The ¹⁶O+¹⁶O fusion reaction is important in terms of the explosive oxygen burning process during late evolution stage of massive stars as well as understanding of the mechanism of low-energy heavy-ion fusion reactions. We aim to determine the excitation function for the most major exit channels, α+²⁸Si and p+³¹P, toward stellar energies indirectly by the Trojan Horse Method via the ¹⁶O(²⁰Ne, α²⁸Si)α and ¹⁶O(²⁰Ne, p³¹P)α three-body reactions. We report preliminary results involving reaction identification, and determination of the momentum distribution of α-¹⁶O intercluster motion in the projectile ²⁰Ne nucleus.