Speaker
Description
The iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator-Based Science (LABS) in Cape Town, South Africa, is a leading facility in Africa with regard to experimental nuclear physics as well as radioisotope production. The lab hosts various accelerators, with one such instrument being the K=200 separated-sector cyclotron (SSC). The K=600 magnetic spectrometer, one of the SSC end stations, coupled with its ancillary detectors for singles and coincidence measurements, has been used in various studies relevant to nuclear astrophysics, among others. The K600 is a high-resolution magnetic spectrometer that uses dispersion matching with a drift-chamber focal plane and that can operate at 0°. One of only 2 spectrometers globally that can operate with these parameters. With silicon arrays for particle detection and lanthanum-bromide or clover arrays for gamma spectroscopy, this end station has proven to be a powerful and versatile instrument.
In particular, reaction rates relevant to type-I x-ray bursts (XRBs) and explosive nucleosynthesis in general have been measured. The hot CNO breakout reaction rate of $^{18}$Ne$(\alpha,p)$$^{21}$Na has been studied via the indirect $^{24}$Mg$(p,t)$$^{22}$Mg reaction, and $^{50}$Cr$(p,t)$$^{48}$Cr to determine the $^{44}$Ti$(\alpha,p)$$^{47}$V reaction rate. Measurements with approved beamtime include $^{28}$Si$(p,t)$$^{26}$Si for an indirect measurement of the $^{22}$Mg$(\alpha,p)$$^{25}$Al reaction rate and the $^{32}$S$(p,t)$$^{30}$S measurement, which will be used to measure astrophysically relevant states in $^{30}$S, to determine branching ratios for the $^{26}$Si$(\alpha,p)$$^{29}$P and $^{29}$P$(p,\gamma)$$^{30}$S reaction rates. This talk will discuss the research within the field of nuclear astrophysics that is conducted with the K600 magnetic spectrometer at iThemba LABS in South Africa.
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