Bayesian analysis of the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mrow><mmultiscripts><mi>Sr</mi><mprescripts></mprescripts><none></none><mn>86</mn></mmultiscripts><mo>(</mo><mi>α</mi><mo>,</mo><mi>α</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow></math> reaction to constrain the <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mrow><mmultiscripts><mi>Sr</mi><mprescripts></mprescripts><none></none><mn>86</mn></mmultiscripts><mo>(</mo><mi>α</mi><mo>,</mo><mi>n</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow></math> cross section at astrophysical energies

C. Marshall; T. Lansing; D. Gribble; R. Longland; A. Psaltis; K. Setoodehnia

doi:10.1103/1tx5-lcgh

Bayesian analysis of the ${}^{86}{Sr} (α, α)$ reaction to constrain the ${}^{86}{Sr} (α, n)$ cross section at astrophysical energies

C. Marshall ^1,2, T. Lansing ^3,*, D. Gribble ^1,2, R. Longland ^2,4, A. Psaltis ^2,5, and K. Setoodehnia ^2,5

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
²Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
³Department of Physics, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio 44691, USA
⁴Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA
⁵Department of Physics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA

^*Present address: United States Navy, Charleston, South Carolina 29404, USA.

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Phys. Rev. C 112, 045801 – Published 1 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/1tx5-lcgh

Abstract

The alpha optical model potential ( $α$ -OMP ) is a phenomenological approach used to describe elastic scattering where multiple reaction channels are open. It is one of the most critical inputs for the calculation of thermonuclear reaction rates in explosive stellar environments, but uncertainties within the $α$ -OMP lead to imprecise predictions hindering comparisons between calculations and observations. In order to improve the precision of the $α$ -OMP, additional nuclear physics data are required. In this paper, a measurement of the ${}^{86}{Sr} (α$ , $α)$ elastic scattering cross section at multiple energies is reported. A local optical potential is constructed via a fully Bayesian analysis of the elastic scattering data. The resulting uncertainties on the low-energy cross sections relevant to nuclear astrophysics are then calculated and shown to be on the order of $50 %$ .

Physical Review C

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Bayesian analysis of the ${}^{86}{Sr} (α, α)$ reaction to constrain the ${}^{86}{Sr} (α, n)$ cross section at astrophysical energies

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Bayesian analysis of the Sr86(α,α) reaction to constrain the Sr86(α,n) cross section at astrophysical energies

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Bayesian analysis of the ${}^{86}{Sr} (α, α)$ reaction to constrain the ${}^{86}{Sr} (α, n)$ cross section at astrophysical energies