Precision measurements on oxygen formation in stellar helium burning with gamma-ray beams and a Time Projection Chamber

Abstract Stellar Evolution theory relies on our knowledge of nuclear reactions, with the carbon/oxygen (C/O) ratio, at the end of helium burning, being the single most important input. However, the C/O ratio is still not known with sufficient accuracy, due to large uncertainties in the cross section for the fusion of helium with 12C to form 16O, denoted as the 12C(α,γ)16O reaction. We present initial results at moderately low energies using a novel method, which is significantly different from the experimental efforts of the past four decades. Precise angular distributions of the 12C(α,γ)16O reaction were obtained by measuring the inverse 16O(γ,α)12C reaction with gamma-beams and a Time Projection Chamber detector. These allowed us to measure, for the first time, the interference angle of the l = 1 and 2 partial waves contributing to this reaction (φ12), which agrees with predictions based on the unitarity of the scattering matrix.