The 8Li(α, n)11B reaction and primordial nucleosynthesis

Abstract

The cross section for the 8Li(α, n)11B reaction, of importance to primordial nucleosynthesis in the inhomogeneous models, has been measured using a 8Li radioactive beam. The center-of-mass energy range studied was 0.64–2.2 MeV. The cross section to all 11B states is found to exceed that for 8Li(α, n)11B(g.s.) by a factor of at least five over the entire energy region studied.