Implications for Type Ia Supernova Nucleosynthesis from an Experimentally Constrained $^{16}$O$(p,α)^{13}$N Reaction Rate

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Alruwaili, M., Fougeres, C., Laird, A. M., Jayatissa, H., Avila, M. L., Bravo, E., Angus, C., Badenes, C., Chakraborty, S., Diget, C., de Sereville, N., Hall-Smith, A., Longland, R., Ong, W. -J., Rehm, K. E., Santiago-Gonzalez, D.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Alruwaili, M.
Fougeres, C.
Laird, A. M.
Jayatissa, H.
Avila, M. L.
Bravo, E.
Angus, C.
Badenes, C.
Chakraborty, S.
Diget, C.
de Sereville, N.
Hall-Smith, A.
Longland, R.
Ong, W. -J.
Rehm, K. E.
Santiago-Gonzalez, D.
author_facet Alruwaili, M.
Fougeres, C.
Laird, A. M.
Jayatissa, H.
Avila, M. L.
Bravo, E.
Angus, C.
Badenes, C.
Chakraborty, S.
Diget, C.
de Sereville, N.
Hall-Smith, A.
Longland, R.
Ong, W. -J.
Rehm, K. E.
Santiago-Gonzalez, D.
contents The $^{16}$O$(p,α)^{13}$N reaction plays a key role in shaping the $α$-particle abundance during explosive oxygen burning in Type Ia supernovae. By enhancing $α$-production, this reaction directly affects the calcium-to-sulphur (Ca/S) and argon-to-sulphur (Ar/S) ratios, which serves as a tracer of progenitor metallicity. However, recent work suggests that the rate must be enhanced by a factor of up to seven over the standard value to explain observed Ca/S ratios across a range of progenitor metallicities. To explore this impact, available experimental cross-section data for the $^{16}$O$(p,α)^{13}$N reaction have been compiled and critically evaluated. Significant discrepancies are identified in the low-energy region ($E_{\mathrm{cm}}$ = 5.7--7.0 MeV), primarily due to limitations of the activation method. To resolve this, the first direct measurement at astrophysical energies has been performed using the MUSIC active-target detector. The new $^{16}$O$(p,α)^{13}$N thermonuclear reaction rate is found to be approximately 1.5 times higher than the REACLIB rate in the temperature range T = 3--4 GK, with more constrained uncertainties that resolve the previously large spread among existing data. The suggested factor of seven enhancement is excluded and these results indicate that this reaction alone cannot fully explain the variation in the Ca/S and Ar/S ratios observed across different progenitor metallicities. Therefore, future work should focus on reducing the uncertainties in other key oxygen-burning reactions, particularly $^{16}$O+$^{16}$O and $^{12}$C+$^{16}$O. Further reducing the constraints on the $^{16}$O$(p,α)^{13}$N rate is also needed to fully determine to whether a nuclear physics solution to this discrepancy is possible.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_06307
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Implications for Type Ia Supernova Nucleosynthesis from an Experimentally Constrained $^{16}$O$(p,α)^{13}$N Reaction Rate
Alruwaili, M.
Fougeres, C.
Laird, A. M.
Jayatissa, H.
Avila, M. L.
Bravo, E.
Angus, C.
Badenes, C.
Chakraborty, S.
Diget, C.
de Sereville, N.
Hall-Smith, A.
Longland, R.
Ong, W. -J.
Rehm, K. E.
Santiago-Gonzalez, D.
Nuclear Experiment
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
The $^{16}$O$(p,α)^{13}$N reaction plays a key role in shaping the $α$-particle abundance during explosive oxygen burning in Type Ia supernovae. By enhancing $α$-production, this reaction directly affects the calcium-to-sulphur (Ca/S) and argon-to-sulphur (Ar/S) ratios, which serves as a tracer of progenitor metallicity. However, recent work suggests that the rate must be enhanced by a factor of up to seven over the standard value to explain observed Ca/S ratios across a range of progenitor metallicities. To explore this impact, available experimental cross-section data for the $^{16}$O$(p,α)^{13}$N reaction have been compiled and critically evaluated. Significant discrepancies are identified in the low-energy region ($E_{\mathrm{cm}}$ = 5.7--7.0 MeV), primarily due to limitations of the activation method. To resolve this, the first direct measurement at astrophysical energies has been performed using the MUSIC active-target detector. The new $^{16}$O$(p,α)^{13}$N thermonuclear reaction rate is found to be approximately 1.5 times higher than the REACLIB rate in the temperature range T = 3--4 GK, with more constrained uncertainties that resolve the previously large spread among existing data. The suggested factor of seven enhancement is excluded and these results indicate that this reaction alone cannot fully explain the variation in the Ca/S and Ar/S ratios observed across different progenitor metallicities. Therefore, future work should focus on reducing the uncertainties in other key oxygen-burning reactions, particularly $^{16}$O+$^{16}$O and $^{12}$C+$^{16}$O. Further reducing the constraints on the $^{16}$O$(p,α)^{13}$N rate is also needed to fully determine to whether a nuclear physics solution to this discrepancy is possible.
title Implications for Type Ia Supernova Nucleosynthesis from an Experimentally Constrained $^{16}$O$(p,α)^{13}$N Reaction Rate
topic Nuclear Experiment
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.06307