Experimental Constraints to the ⁵⁷Ni(p,γ)⁵⁸Cu Reaction Rate

Constraining the ⁵⁷Ni(p,γ)⁵⁸Cu reaction rate is crucial to understanding nucleosynthesis in core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe), as this reaction impacts the production of observable isotopes ⁴⁴Ti and ⁵⁹Ni. During the νp-process, the ⁵⁷Ni(p,γ)⁵⁸Cu reaction has also been shown to impact the production of ⁵⁷Fe. Currently, no experimental rates exist for this reaction. To experimentally constrain this rate, the structure of ⁵⁸Cu was probed via the ⁵⁸Ni(³He,t)⁵⁸Cu reaction using both GODDESS (GRETINA ORRUBA Dual Detectors for Experimental Structure Studies) at Argonne National Laboratory’s ATLAS facility and the Enge split-pole spectrograph at the University of Notre Dame’s Nuclear Science Laboratory. These complementary measurements focused on identifying levels in ⁵⁸Cu that could lead to significant resonances in the ⁵⁷Ni(p,γ)⁵⁸Cu reaction and precisely determining their energies. Experimental procedures and analysis will be presented, along with the impact of the constrained reaction rate on CCSNe nucleosynthesis.