The 106Cd(alpha,alpha)106Cd elastic scattering in a wide energy range for gamma-process studies

TL;DR

This study measures alpha elastic scattering on 106Cd at energies near the Coulomb barrier to refine optical potential models, which are crucial for predicting astrophysical gamma process reaction rates.

Contribution

It provides new high-precision angular distribution data and analyzes the energy dependence of optical potentials relevant for astrophysical gamma process modeling.

Findings

Refined optical potential parameters for 106Cd + alpha interactions.

Validated statistical model predictions against experimental cross section data.

Identified energy-dependent behavior of alpha-nucleus interactions.

Abstract

Alpha elastic scattering angular distributions of the 106Cd(alpha,alpha)106Cd reaction were measured at three energies around the Coulomb barrier to provide a sensitive test for the alpha + nucleus optical potential parameter sets. Furthermore, the new high precision angular distributions, together with the data available from the literature were used to study the energy dependence of the locally optimized {\alpha}+nucleus optical potential in a wide energy region ranging from E_Lab = 27.0 MeV down to 16.1 MeV. The potentials under study are a basic prerequisite for the prediction of alpha-induced reaction cross sections and thus, for the calculation of stellar reaction rates used for the astrophysical gamma process. Therefore, statistical model predictions using as input the optical potentials discussed in the present work are compared to the available 106Cd + alpha cross section data.