Measurement of the (16)O(n, gamma)(17)O reaction cross section at stellar energy and the critical role of nonresonant p-wave neutron capture
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Abstract
The cross section of the (16)O(n, gamma)(17)O reaction, important for nucleosynthesis theories of s and p processes and of inhomogeneous big bang models, has been measured at stellar neutron energy. The Maxwellian-averaged cross section at kT = 30 keV was derived as 34 +/- 4 microbarn; 170 times larger than the value reported previously. The results could significantly alter the s and p process efficiencies in metal-deficient stars due to a strong neutron poison of O-16 and increase the primordial nucleosynthesis yield in inhomogeneous models. The large cross section is attributed to a nonresonant p-wave neutron-capture process. It is pointed out that this process plays an important role in the neutron-capture reaction of light nuclei at stellar energy; the cross section deviates considerably from the extrapolated value of the measured thermal-capture cross section by assuming a 1/v law and therefore the process significantly influences both the stellar and above-mentioned primordial nucleosynthesis theories.