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Measurement of the Ce140(n,γ) Cross Section at n_TOF and Its Astrophysical Implications for the Chemical Evolution of the Universe

S. Amaducci1, N. Colonna2, L. Cosentino1, S. Cristallo3,4, P. Finocchiaro1, M. Krtička5, C. Massimi6,7, M. Mastromarco8, A. Mazzone2,9 et al. (n_TOF Collaboration)

A. Mazzone2,9, E. A. Maugeri10, A. Mengoni6,11, I. U. Roederer12,13,14, O. Straniero3,15, S. Valenta5, D. Vescovi3,4, O. Aberle8, V. Alcayne16, J. Andrzejewski17, L. Audouin18, V. Babiano-Suarez19, M. Bacak8,20,21, M. Barbagallo8,2, S. Bennett22, E. Berthoumieux21, J. Billowes22, D. Bosnar23, A. Brown24, M. Busso4,25, M. Caamaño26, L. Caballero-Ontanaya19, F. Calviño27, M. Calviani8, D. Cano-Ott16, A. Casanovas27, F. Cerutti8, E. Chiaveri8,22, G. Cortés27, M. A. Cortés-Giraldo28, L. A. Damone2,29, P. J. Davies22, M. Diakaki30,8, M. Dietz31, C. Domingo-Pardo19, R. Dressler10, Q. Ducasse32, E. Dupont21, I. Durán26, Z. Eleme33, B. Fernández-Domínguez26, A. Ferrari8, V. Furman34, K. Göbel35, R. Garg31, A. Gawlik-Ramięga17, S. Gilardoni8, I. F. Gonçalves36, E. González-Romero16, C. Guerrero28, F. Gunsing21, H. Harada37, S. Heinitz10, J. Heyse38, D. G. Jenkins24, A. Junghans39, F. Käppeler40,*, Y. Kadi8, A. Kimura37, I. Knapová5, M. Kokkoris30, Y. Kopatch34, D. Kurtulgil35, I. Ladarescu19, C. Lederer-Woods31, H. Leeb20, J. Lerendegui-Marco28, S. J. Lonsdale31, D. Macina8, A. Manna6,7, T. Martínez16, A. Masi8, P. Mastinu41, E. Mendoza16, V. Michalopoulou30,8, P. M. Milazzo42, F. Mingrone8, J. Moreno-Soto21, A. Musumarra43,44, A. Negret45, R. Nolte32, F. Ogállar46, A. Oprea45, N. Patronis33, A. Pavlik47, J. Perkowski17, C. Petrone45, L. Piersanti3,4, E. Pirovano32, I. Porras46, J. Praena46, J. M. Quesada28, D. Ramos-Doval18, T. Rauscher48,49, R. Reifarth35, D. Rochman10, C. Rubbia8, M. Sabaté-Gilarte28,8, A. Saxena50, P. Schillebeeckx38, D. Schumann10, A. Sekhar22, A. G. Smith22, N. V. Sosnin22, P. Sprung10, A. Stamatopoulos30, G. Tagliente2, J. L. Tain19, A. Tarifeño-Saldivia19, L. Tassan-Got8,30,18, Th. Thomas35, P. Torres-Sánchez46, A. Tsinganis8, J. Ulrich10, S. Urlass39,8, G. Vannini6,7, V. Variale2, P. Vaz36, A. Ventura6, V. Vlachoudis8, R. Vlastou30, A. Wallner51, P. J. Woods31, T. Wright22, and P. Žugec23 (n_TOF Collaboration)

  • 1INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Catania, Italy
  • 2Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari, Italy
  • 3Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico d’Abruzzo, Italy
  • 4Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia, Italy
  • 5Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
  • 6Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna, Italy
  • 7Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Italy
  • 8European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland
  • 9Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari, Italy
  • 10Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), Villigen, Switzerland
  • 11Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l’energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile (ENEA), Italy
  • 12Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, Norh Carolina 27695, USA
  • 13Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
  • 14Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics—Center for the Evolution of the Elements (JINA-CEE), USA
  • 15INFN Sezione Napoli, Napoli, Italy
  • 16Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Spain
  • 17University of Lodz, Poland
  • 18Institut de Physique Nucléaire, CNRS-IN2P3, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91406 Orsay Cedex, France
  • 19Instituto de Física Corpuscular, CSIC - Universidad de Valencia, Spain
  • 20TU Wien, Atominstitut, Stadionallee 2, 1020 Wien, Austria
  • 21CEA Irfu, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
  • 22University of Manchester, United Kingdom
  • 23Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
  • 24University of York, United Kingdom
  • 25Dipartimento di Fisica e Geologia, Università di Perugia, Italy
  • 26IGFAE—Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
  • 27Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain
  • 28Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
  • 29Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Bari, Italy
  • 30National Technical University of Athens, Greece
  • 31School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
  • 32Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany
  • 33University of Ioannina, Greece
  • 34Affiliated with an institute or an international laboratory covered by a cooperation agreement with CERN
  • 35Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
  • 36Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 37Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Tokai-Mura, Japan
  • 38European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Geel, Belgium
  • 39Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany
  • 40Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Campus North, IKP, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 41INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Italy
  • 42Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, Italy
  • 43Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Catania, Italy
  • 44Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Catania, Italy
  • 45Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Romania
  • 46University of Granada, Spain
  • 47University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, Vienna, Austria
  • 48Department of Physics, University of Basel, Switzerland
  • 49Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
  • 50Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), India
  • 51Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

  • *Deceased
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 122701 – Published 21 March, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.122701

Abstract

Ce140(n,γ) is a key reaction for slow neutron-capture (s-process) nucleosynthesis due to being a bottleneck in the reaction flow. For this reason, it was measured with high accuracy (uncertainty ≈5%) at the n_TOF facility, with an unprecedented combination of a high purity sample and low neutron-sensitivity detectors. The measured Maxwellian averaged cross section is up to 40% higher than previously accepted values. Stellar model calculations indicate a reduction around 20% of the s-process contribution to the Galactic cerium abundance and smaller sizeable differences for most of the heavier elements. No variations are found in the nucleosynthesis from massive stars.

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Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Research News

Heavy Element Quandary in Stars Worsened by New Nuclear Data

Published 21 March, 2024

A widening gap between the cerium-140 abundance predicted by theories and that measured in observations of certain stars indicates a potential need for updated models of element formation.

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Supplemental Material

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Outline

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 122701– Published 21 March, 2024
  • Received 30 June 2023
  • Revised 9 November 2023
  • Accepted 31 January 2024
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