Thermonuclear reaction rates derived from thick target yields

Abstract

A technique is described which permits direct extraction of thermonuclear reaction rates from thick target yield data. The values for the thermonuclear reaction rate are derived from a smooth fit to the yield curve which is measured for the thick targets without explicit cross sections. This is possible because both the yield and the thermonuclear reaction rate are equal to integrals with the nuclear cross section appearing linearly in the integrand. The technique is applied to a set of experimental yields. Results are reported for (proton, gamma) reactions on the nuclei Ca-40; Zn-64, 67; Ge-70; Mo-92, 95, 98, 100, the (proton, alpha) reaction on B-10, and (proton, neutron) reactions on Zn-68; Ge-74, 76; and Mo-95, 96. Results agree well with the parametric forms suggested by Truran (1972).