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Reaction atlas · Big Bang nucleosynthesis

Radiative capture · Big Bang nucleosynthesis

3H(α,γ)7Li

: triton + helium‑4 → lithium‑7 + gamma rayHow to read the notation

On this page

Tritium captures a 4He nucleus and becomes 7Li, giving off a γ-ray. It made a small part of the primordial lithium; most of it came from 7Be.

At the baryon density measured today, most of the 7Li produced after the Big Bang was first made as 7Be, through the mirror reaction on 3He, and decayed to 7Li later. This reaction makes 7Li directly and contributes a smaller share. It is also a test case for nuclear models, which must describe it together with its mirror.

Facts

How well known
Measured at BBN energies with uncertainties that affect only the small directly produced share of primordial 7Li.
Live evaluation
No live evaluation yet · Evaluations
Q-value · energy released
2.468 MeV
Gamow window
  • 200 ± 135 keVdeuterium bottleneck, 0.8 GK (Big Bang nucleosynthesis)
  • 105 ± 60 keVend of BBN, 0.3 GK (Big Bang nucleosynthesis)
Kind
Radiative capture

How it was measured

1 measurement, 1994Show the list
  1. 1994

    Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, CaltechCalifornia Institute of Technology

    Direct measurement at the surface · 50–1200 keV

    Absolute cross section and a branching ratio between the two γ transitions of about 0.45, nearly independent of energy; below 150 keV the S-factor is considerably smaller than earlier data indicated. [1]

Measurements (EXFOR)

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

22 datasets in 7 EXFOR entries, 1959–2017

Temperature
Lowest energy in EXFOR
55.1 keV
BRUNE et al., 1994 · S · C0191.002
Distance from the Gamow peak
0.53 Gamow widths below
E₀ = 200 keV, window 64.4–336 keV
Rate from energies not in EXFOR
0.1%
at T₉ = 0.8, smooth estimate · 0.1% of it lies below the lowest energy in EXFOR
10 keV100 keV1 MeV10 MeVCentre-of-mass energy (keV)E₀ = 200 keVσSdσ/dΩotherlowest in EXFOR 55.1 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 section2150 keV – 786 keV
SS-factor1455.1 keV – 1.19 MeV
dσ/dΩangular distribution4116 keV – 1.19 MeV
…other215.7 keV – 1.19 MeV
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 reaction is the mirror of 3He(α,γ)7Be: an external direct capture to the ground and first excited states of 7Li. Its lower Coulomb barrier allows measurements at lower energy, but the radioactive tritium target or beam complicates the experiments. The Caltech measurement of 1994 covered 50–1200 keV, measured a branching ratio between the two γ transitions that is nearly independent of energy, and found an S-factor below 150 keV considerably smaller than earlier experiments had indicated.

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) [2]

Related reactions

References

  1. 1.

    C. R. Brune, R. W. Kavanagh, C. Rolfs

    3H(α,γ)7Li reaction at low energies

    Phys. Rev. C 50, 2205 (1994) · 10.1103/PhysRevC.50.2205

  2. 2.

    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, 3H(α,γ)7Li, in Reaction atlas, 2026-10-12, https://jskowron.eu/atlas/3H-ag-7Li.

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

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