Investigating absolute ¹⁴C(α,n)¹⁷O cross section at low energies

We aim to refine cross-section measurements at low-energies for the ¹⁴C(α,n)¹⁷O and ¹⁴C(p,n)¹⁴N reactions using an array of stilbene organic scintillation detectors and the Sta. ANA Peletron accelerator in the Nuclear Science Lab at the University of Notre Dame. Initial characterization of the ¹⁴C target through ¹⁴C(p,γ), ¹⁴C(p,n) and ¹⁴C(α,γ) reactions and preliminary results will be presented. The goal of these measurements is to clarify the normalization of the absolute cross section for these reactions. For example, recent absolute cross section measurements of the inverse reaction, ¹⁷O(n,α)¹⁴C, incorporated existing ¹⁴C(α,n)¹⁷O data in a multi-channel R-matrix fit and highlighted this normalization discrepancy. The astrophysical implications of the reactions will be discussed.