Study of Key Resonances to Understand Nucleosynthesis in Supernovae
Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 052702 – Published 29 July, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/1848-pwf5
Abstract
An important validation of nucleosynthesis models of core-collapse supernovae is the comparison of radioisotope predictions to abundances inferred from observations of rays emitted in remnants. One such isotope, , is especially sensitive to the reaction rate. Despite this importance, no experimentally constrained rate exists for this reaction. It is thus crucial to determine this rate. GRETINA ORRUBA: Dual Detectors for Experimental Structure Studies (GODDESS) was used along with the first use of the Enge split-pole spectrograph at Notre Dame to measure structure properties of via the reaction. The combined analysis of these complementary data sets allows for precise determination of level energies, and spins are constrained from analysis of the -ray decay. yields were found to change by over 25% compared to previous estimates in model calculations using the new experimentally constrained reaction rate.