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Reaction atlas · Big Bang nucleosynthesis

Radiative capture · Big Bang nucleosynthesis

2H(α,γ)6Li

: deuteron + helium‑4 → lithium‑6 + gamma rayHow to read the notation

ImprovingMeasured at LUNA
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A deuteron captures a 4He nucleus and becomes 6Li, giving off a γ-ray. It is the only way the Big Bang made the lighter lithium isotope.

Standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis predicts very little 6Li, far less than 7Li. Some observations of old stars once suggested much more, which would have pointed to new physics or to other sources of 6Li. The rate of this reaction at the energies of the early Universe tells whether the Big Bang alone could have made that much. It is very hard to measure because it happens so rarely; the first direct measurement, deep underground at LUNA, found a rate too low to explain the reported amounts.

Facts

How well known
Direct data at BBN energies come from a single underground experiment at four energies; the resulting rate is lower than earlier estimates.
Live evaluation
No live evaluation yet · Evaluations
Q-value · energy released
1.474 MeV
Gamow window
  • 185 ± 130 keVdeuterium bottleneck, 0.8 GK (Big Bang nucleosynthesis)
  • 96 ± 57 keVend of BBN, 0.3 GK (Big Bang nucleosynthesis)
Kind
Radiative capture

How it was measured

4 measurements, 1991–2017, 2 at LUNAShow the list
  1. 1991

    Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe

    Coulomb dissociation · 156 MeV 6Li beam

    Coulomb dissociation of 6Li into α + d at very low relative energies; the deduced S-factor was almost constant below 400 keV, contrary to theoretical expectations. [1]

  2. 2010

    GSI, DarmstadtGSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung

    Coulomb dissociation · 6Li beam at 150 MeV/u

    High-energy break-up of 6Li to test the Coulomb-dissociation approach; nuclear break-up dominates, so the data constrain the capture cross section only from above. [2]

  3. 2014

    LUNA 400 kVLaboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (INFN)

    Direct measurement underground · two energies in the BBN range

    First direct measurement at BBN energies. With standard BBN the data give a primordial 6Li/7Li ratio of (1.5 ± 0.3) × 10−5, far below the values reported for halo stars. [3]

  4. 2017

    LUNA 400 kVLaboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (INFN)

    Direct measurement underground · 80, 93, 120 and 133 keV

    Full LUNA data set and a new thermonuclear rate, lower than earlier estimates, which widens the gap between predicted and reported 6Li. [4]

Measurements (EXFOR)

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

8 datasets in 6 EXFOR entries, 1981–2016

Temperature
Lowest energy in EXFOR
94 keV
Anders et al., 2014 · S · O2188.002.1
Distance from the Gamow peak
Inside the window
E₀ = 184 keV, window 53.9–314 keV
Rate from energies not in EXFOR
89%
at T₉ = 0.8, smooth estimate · 4.2% of it lies below the lowest energy in EXFOR
1 keV10 keV100 keV1 MeV10 MeV100 MeVCentre-of-mass energy (keV)E₀ = 184 keVσSlowest in EXFOR 94 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 section510 keV – 8.28 MeV
SS-factor353 keV – 134 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 electric-dipole (E1) transition is suppressed by isospin selection rules and by the equal charge-to-mass ratios of the deuteron and the alpha particle, so the capture at BBN energies proceeds through E2 and a residual E1 component, and the cross section is very small. At higher energy the 3+ first excited state of 6Li appears as a resonance. Direct measurements are limited by the neutron background from 2H(d,n)3He, induced by deuterons that the beam scatters elastically in the target, and by the γ-ray background, which makes underground accelerators the natural place for them.

The LUNA collaboration measured the cross section directly at the 400 kV accelerator under Gran Sasso, first at two BBN energies (2014) and then at four energies between 80 and 133 keV (2017). Coulomb dissociation of 6Li beams was used earlier, but nuclear break-up dominates at the relevant energies, so those data give only upper limits on the capture cross section.

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.

  • —P. Descouvemont et al., At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 88, 203 (2004) [5]

Open questions

  • The size of the residual E1 contribution at BBN energies.

Related reactions

References

  1. 1.

    J. Kiener, H. J. Gils, H. Rebel, S. Zagromski, G. Gsottschneider, N. Heide, H. Jelitto, J. Wentz, G. Baur

    Measurements of the Coulomb dissociation cross section of 156 MeV 6Li projectiles at extremely low relative fragment energies of astrophysical interest

    Phys. Rev. C 44, 2195 (1991) · 10.1103/PhysRevC.44.2195

  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.

    D. Trezzi et al. (LUNA Collaboration)

    Big Bang 6Li nucleosynthesis studied deep underground (LUNA collaboration)

    Astropart. Phys. 89, 57 (2017) · 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2017.01.007LUNA

  5. 5.

    P. Descouvemont, A. Adahchour, C. Angulo, A. Coc, E. Vangioni-Flam

    Compilation and R-matrix analysis of Big Bang nuclear reaction rates

    At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 88, 203 (2004) · arXiv:astro-ph/0407101

How to cite this page

J. Skowronski, 2H(α,γ)6Li, in Reaction atlas, 2026-10-12, https://jskowron.eu/atlas/2H-ag-6Li.

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

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