Open AccessTHM applied to the investigation of explosive astrophysical scenarios
Author(s) -
M. La Cognata,
S. Cherubini,
M. Gulino,
L. Lamia,
R. G. Pizzone,
С. Романо,
C. Spitaleri,
А. Туміно
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1308/1/012012
Subject(s) - explosive material , supernova , physics , nuclear astrophysics , focus (optics) , astrophysics , nuclear reaction , nuclear physics , chemistry , optics , organic chemistry
The Trojan Horse Method (THM) makes use of quasi-free reactions to deduce the cross section of nuclear reactions relevant for astrophysics at the energies of interest. Thanks to the suppression of the Coulomb barrier, the THM cross section does not exponentially vanishes at astrophysical energies. Here we will briefly summarise the fundamentals of the method, then we will discuss two applications of the method to reactions that have a pivotal role in the latest stages of stellar evolution, leading to explosive scenarios. In particular, we will focus on the indirect investigation of the 18 F( p, α) 15 O reaction, which is the most important 18 F destruction channel in novae, and the 12 C + 12 C reaction, which plays a critical role in astrophysics to understand stellar burning scenarios in carbon-rich environments, including supernovae.