Examination of the astrophysical S-factors of the radiative proton capture on 2H, 6Li, 7Li, 12C and 13C

TL;DR

This paper calculates astrophysical S-factors for proton capture on light nuclei using a two-cluster potential model that incorporates orbital state separation and Pauli forbidden states, aligning well with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach that considers the dependence of cluster interaction potentials on Young schemes, improving the modeling of light nuclei radiative capture reactions.

Findings

Reasonable agreement with experimental low-energy data

Highlights importance of precise elastic scattering measurements

Demonstrates the model's effectiveness in describing reaction mechanisms

Abstract

Astrophysical S-factors of radiative capture reactions on light nuclei have been calculated in a two-cluster potential model, taking into account the separation of orbital states by the use of Young schemes. The local two-body potentials describing the interaction of the clusters were determined by fitting scattering data and properties of bound states. The many-body character of the problem is approximatively accounted for by Pauli forbidden states. An important feature of the approach is the consideration of the dependence of the interaction potential between the clusters on the orbital Young schemes, which determine the permutation symmetry of the nucleon system. Proton capture on 2H, 6Li, 7Li, 12C, and 13C was analyzed in this approach. Experimental data at low energies were described reasonably well when the phase shifts for cluster-cluster scattering, extracted from precise data, were used. This shows that decreasing the experimental error on differential elastic scattering cross sections of light nuclei at astrophysical energies is very important also to allow a more accurate phase shift analysis. A future increase in precision will allow more definite conclusions regarding the reaction mechanisms and astrophysical conditions of thermonuclear reactions.