Gy. Gyürky

Background: Nuclear reactions involving α particles play an important role in various astrophysical processes such as the γ process of heavy element nucleosynthesis. The poorly known low-energy α-nucleus optical potential is a key parameter to estimate the rates of these reactions. Purpose: The α-nucleus optical potential can be tested by measuring the cross section of α scattering as well as α-induced reactions.

Abstract Background: N14(p,γ)O15 is one of the key reactions of nuclear astrophysics, playing a role in various stellar processes and influencing energy generation of stars, stellar evolution, and nucleosynthesis. For a reliable reaction rate calculation, the low-energy cross section of N14(p,γ)O15 must be known with high accuracy. Owing to the unmeasurable low cross sections, theoretical calculations are unavoidable.