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CASPAR: Nuclear Astrophysics a Mile Underground

ORAL · Invited

Abstract

One of the major challenges in direct measurements of nuclear reactions for stellar burning nucleosynthesis and the s-process are the extremely low cross sections in the relevant reaction energy range. In order to overcome those challenges, low-background measurements need to be combined with high efficiency detection systems. At CASPAR, we take advantage of the cosmic-ray background suppression resulting from a 4300 m.w.e. rock overburden at the 4850-foot level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility, high-purity targets and a range of γ-ray and neutron detectors and experimental techniques to directly measure proton- and $\alpha$-induced reactions at energies below 1 MeV. In this talk, an overview of the recent experimental campaign at CASPAR will be presented. Results from several measurements ranging from 7Li(α,γ) to 22Ne(α,γ) and 22Ne(α,n) will be presented.

Presenters

  • Anna Simon

    University of Notre Dame

Authors

  • Anna Simon

    University of Notre Dame