Curiosity·¹³C pocket

If ¹³C(α,n)¹⁶O were twice as fast, this model of an AGB star's ¹³C pocket would end up with almost the same amount of barium‑138 (+1%).

• Biggest knock-on effect: ⁸⁶Kr (×2.0).
• The same energy, released in half the time: power ×2.0.

All the carbon‑13 burns anyway: how much there is matters, not how fast it burns.

One-zone model at 90 MK over 78 000 years. Real stars adjust. Krypton‑86 comes through the branch at krypton‑85, modelled without its short-lived isomer, so this model makes too much of it. The energy is that of this gas at the model's temperature, not the star's luminosity: a real star would adjust its temperature to keep its luminosity. Doubling is a what-if, not the rate's actual uncertainty. How well this rate is known: improving.