Measurement of the 330 keV resonance in ¹⁸F(p, α)¹⁵O

B. H. Moazen, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
J. C. Blackmon, Louisiana State University
D. W. Bardayan, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
K. Y. Chae, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
K. Chipps, Colorado School of Mines
K. L. Grzywacz, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
R. L. Kozub, Tennessee Technological University
C. Matei, Oak Ridge Associated Universities
C. D. Nesaraja, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
S. D. Pain, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
J. F. Shriner, Tennessee Technological University
M. S. Smith, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Abstract

While recent measurements have substantially improved our understanding of the 18F(p,α)15O reaction that is important in novae, the production of 18F is still uncertain by more than 2 orders of magnitude, due in large part to the contribution of a resonance located at Ecm = 330 keV.We developed a new technique to study resonant (p,α) reactions and employed it to measure properties of the Ecm = 183 keV resonance in 17O(p,α)14N which had been previously reported to decrease 18F production in ONeMg novae by as much as a factor of 10. The previous results were confirmed using the new technique and we now propose to use this technique to study the 18F(p,α)15O reaction.