Determination of $\alpha$-optical potential for reactions with p-nuclei from the study of ($\alpha$,n) reactions in the astrophysically relevant energy region

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method using ($ extalpha$,n) reactions to determine alpha optical potentials at astrophysically relevant energies, addressing limitations of elastic scattering data.

Contribution

It introduces a new approach to derive alpha optical potentials from ($ extalpha$,n) reactions for p-nuclei, improving low-energy applicability.

Findings

Modified McFadden-Satchler potential fits ($ extalpha$,n) data well

New potential affects ($ extalpha$,γ) cross-section calculations

Level density and γ-ray strength influence the potential's effectiveness

Abstract

Optical potential parameters in nuclear model calculations are determined by fitting elastic scattering angular distribution data. Due to the dominance of Coulomb part, elastic scattering is performed at much higher energies. A different approach using ($\alpha$,n) reaction is suggested to determine the alpha optical potentials suitable for astrophysically relevant low energy regions. Reaction on p-nuclei in the mass region A $\approx$ 92-168 have been chosen and a modified McFadden-Satchler $\alpha$-optical potential is obtained from fitting the ($\alpha$,n) reaction data. The effect of level density and $\gamma$-ray strength function is also studied using this new potential by analyzing ($\alpha,\gamma$) cross-sections.