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Reaction atlas · Helium burning

Radiative capture · Helium burning

18O(α,γ)22Ne

: oxygen‑18 + helium‑4 → neon‑22 + gamma rayHow to read the notation

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Oxygen-18 captures a helium nucleus and becomes neon-22. It completes the conversion of nitrogen into neon-22 during helium burning.

The oxygen-18 made from nitrogen at the start of helium burning is turned into neon-22 by this reaction. Neon-22 later supplies neutrons in massive stars and in giant stars through 22Ne(α,n)25Mg. The speed of this reaction also decides how much oxygen-18 survives, which matters for the oxygen isotope ratios measured in stardust grains and in some carbon-rich stars.

Facts

How well known
The two resonances that dominate the rate have now been measured directly, the lower one in two underground laboratories, the higher one with a 50% uncertainty.
Live evaluation
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Reaction rates
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Q-value · energy released
9.667 MeV
Gamow window
  • 395 ± 95 keVcore helium burning, 0.2 GK (Helium burning)
Kind
Radiative capture

How it was measured

3 measurements, 2003–2023Show the list
  1. 2003

    Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe

    Direct measurement at the surface · E(α,lab) ≈ 470 and 566 keV resonances

    First direct partial strengths of the two weak resonances, 0.48 ± 0.16 µeV and 0.71 ± 0.17 µeV. [1]

  2. 2022

    CASPARSanford Underground Research Facility

    Direct measurement underground · E(α,lab) = 472–768 keV

    First total strengths of the 472 and 569 keV resonances, 0.26 ± 0.05 µeV and 0.63 ± 0.30 µeV, measured with the HECTOR γ-summing detector; new strengths for the resonances at 662.1, 749.9 and 767.6 keV. [2]

  3. 2023

    JUNAChina Jinping Underground Laboratory

    Direct measurement underground · E(α,lab) = 470–787 keV

    Energy of the key resonance E_α = 474.0 ± 1.1 keV, the first measurement this precise; the primary γ branchings fix Jπ = 1−, which removes the discrepancies between earlier strengths. The rate is up to about ten times more precise at 0.1–0.3 GK. A review of the result (Kajino 2023) quotes ωγ = 0.25 ± 0.03 µeV, a value not given in the abstract of the Letter. [3, 4]

Measurements (EXFOR)

Every dataset EXFOR holds for this reaction, drawn by the energies it covers, against the energies a star uses.

5 datasets in 4 EXFOR entries, 1968–2022 · 2 without an energy range, not drawn

core helium burning, T₉ = 0.2 (200 MK)

Lowest energy in EXFOR
386 keV
Dombos et al., 2022 · ωγ · C2764.002
Distance from the Gamow peak
Inside the window
E₀ = 393 keV, window 298–488 keV
Rate from energies not in EXFOR
40%
at T₉ = 0.2, smooth estimate · 40% of it lies below the lowest energy in EXFOR

1 resonance-strength datasets reach into this window: the smooth estimate does not count resonances.

100 keV1 MeV10 MeVCentre-of-mass energy (keV)E₀ = 393 keVσdσ/dΩωγlowest in EXFOR 386 keV
  • Gamow window, hatched where no measurement reaches
  • Outlined bars are shown but not counted (the rule is under “How these numbers are made”).
  • A diamond is a dataset at a single energy. Bars running off the right edge continue to higher energies.
The datasets of the gap map, by quantity
The datasets of the gap map, by quantity
QuantityDatasetsE_cm range (keV)
σcross section11.75 MeV – 3.02 MeV
dσ/dΩangular distribution12.06 MeV – 3.23 MeV
ωγresonance strength1386 keV – 628 keV
How these numbers are made

Lowest measured energy, everywhere in the data explorer: the lowest centre-of-mass energy at which a dataset in EXFOR measures the reaction itself (cross section, S-factor, angular distribution, yield or resonance strength), judged point by point. A point counts when it is a value, not an upper or lower limit, when it lies at least one standard deviation above zero, and when its energy is physical: at least 1 keV for charged particles, and not below the threshold of an endothermic reaction. Not counted: extrapolated, calculated, evaluated or derived values; superseded, deleted or preliminary data; ratios; a single S-factor value, which in EXFOR is a fit result; and indirect methods (Trojan horse, Coulomb dissociation, ANC, surrogate reactions), recognized from EXFOR's method and analysis codes, their text and the title. Frame and unit errors of EXFOR are corrected first, and values the literature shows to be upper limits are read as limits, from a list that gives the evidence for each. Datasets that reach the same energy within 0.5% are all credited, earliest first. Rate from energies not in EXFOR: the share of the rate integrand at that temperature outside the energy ranges the counted datasets cover (from their lowest measured point to their highest), with a constant S-factor (σ ∝ S(E₀)/E · e^−2πη, so the integrand is e^(−E/kT − 2πη)); for a neutron capture, σ ∝ 1/v. Resonances make the real integrand lumpy, so read it as a smooth baseline.

Details

The rate at helium-burning temperatures is dominated by two weak resonances at E(α,lab) ≈ 470 and 566 keV. For a long time only upper limits existed. Dababneh et al. (2003) gave the first partial strengths, 0.48 ± 0.16 µeV and 0.71 ± 0.17 µeV.

Dombos et al. (2022) measured the total strengths for the first time at the CASPAR underground accelerator, with the γ-summing detector HECTOR: 0.26 ± 0.05 µeV and 0.63 ± 0.30 µeV for the resonances at 472 and 569 keV, with new strengths for those at 662.1, 749.9 and 767.6 keV. At the JUNA underground laboratory, Wang et al. (2023) fixed the energy of the lower of the two at E_α = 474.0 ± 1.1 keV and its spin and parity as 1−; a review of the work (Kajino 2023) quotes a strength of 0.25 ± 0.03 µeV.

Peak energy E0 ± half the 1/e width, centre of mass, from the AME2020 masses.

Evaluations

Compilations that combine the data into a recommended rate.

  • —C. Angulo, M. Arnould, M. Rayet et al. (NACRE Collaboration), Nucl. Phys. A 656, 3 (1999) [5]
  • —C. Iliadis et al., Nucl. Phys. A 841, 31 (2010) [6]

Open questions

  • The strength of the 569 keV resonance, known to 50%, and the agreement between the partial and total strengths of the 472 keV resonance.

Related reactions

References

  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.

    C. Angulo, M. Arnould, M. Rayet et al. (NACRE Collaboration)

    A compilation of charged-particle induced thermonuclear reaction rates

    Nucl. Phys. A 656, 3 (1999)

  6. 6.

How to cite this page

J. Skowronski, 18O(α,γ)22Ne, in Reaction atlas, 2026-10-12, https://jskowron.eu/atlas/18O-ag-22Ne.

Cite the date you used; it is the last change to this page.

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