Search for Nova Presolar Grains: $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-Ray Spectroscopy of $^{34}\mathrm{Ar}$ and its Relevance for the Astrophysical $^{33}\mathrm{Cl}(p,\ensuremath{\gamma})$ Reaction

Search for Nova Presolar Grains: $γ$ -Ray Spectroscopy of ${}^{34}{Ar}$ and its Relevance for the Astrophysical ${}^{33}{Cl} (p, γ)$ Reaction

A. R. L. Kennington, G. Lotay, D. T. Doherty, D. Seweryniak, C. Andreoiu, K. Auranen, M. P. Carpenter, W. N. Catford, C. M. Deibel, K. Hadyńska-Klęk, S. Hallam, D. E. M. Hoff, T. Huang, R. V. F. Janssens, S. Jazrawi, J. José, F. G. Kondev, T. Lauritsen, J. Li, A. M. Rogers, J. Saiz, G. Savard, S. Stolze, G. L. Wilson, and S. Zhu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 252702 – Published 26 June 2020

Abstract

The discovery of presolar grains in primitive meteorites has initiated a new era of research in the study of stellar nucleosynthesis. However, the accurate classification of presolar grains as being of specific stellar origins is particularly challenging. Recently, it has been suggested that sulfur isotopic abundances may hold the key to definitively identifying presolar grains with being of nova origins and, in this regard, the astrophysical ${}^{33}{Cl} (p, γ) {}^{34}{Ar}$ reaction is expected to play a decisive role. As such, we have performed a detailed $γ$ -ray spectroscopy study of ${}^{34}{Ar}$ . Excitation energies have been measured with high precision and spin-parity assignments for resonant states, located above the proton threshold in ${}^{34}{Ar}$ , have been made for the first time. Uncertainties in the ${}^{33}{Cl} (p, γ)$ reaction have been dramatically reduced and the results indicate that a newly identified $ℓ = 0$ resonance at $E_{r} = 396.9 (13) keV$ dominates the entire rate for $T = 0.25 - 0.40 GK$ . Furthermore, nova hydrodynamic simulations based on the present work indicate an ejected ${}^{32}S / {}^{33}S$ abundance ratio distinctive from type-II supernovae and potentially compatible with recent measurements of a presolar grain.

Received 30 January 2020
Revised 25 February 2020
Accepted 29 May 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.252702

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Nuclear structure & decays Nucleosynthesis in explosive environments Radiative capture

Nuclear Physics

Authors & Affiliations

A. R. L. Kennington¹, G. Lotay¹, D. T. Doherty¹, D. Seweryniak², C. Andreoiu³, K. Auranen^2,*, M. P. Carpenter², W. N. Catford¹, C. M. Deibel⁴, K. Hadyńska-Klęk^1,†, S. Hallam¹, D. E. M. Hoff⁵, T. Huang², R. V. F. Janssens^6,7, S. Jazrawi¹, J. José^8,9, F. G. Kondev², T. Lauritsen², J. Li², A. M. Rogers⁵, J. Saiz¹⁰, G. Savard², S. Stolze², G. L. Wilson^2,4, and S. Zhu^2,‡

¹Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, United Kingdom
²Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
³Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
⁴Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA
⁵Department of Physics and Applied Physics, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854, USA
⁶Department of Physics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
⁷Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA
⁸Departament de Física, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona E-08019, Spain
⁹Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), E-08034 Barcelona, Spain
¹⁰Department of Physics, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom

^*Present address: Department of Physics, University of Jyvaskyla, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.
^†Present address: Heavy Ion Laboratory, University of Warsaw, Pasteura 5a, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland.
^‡Present address: Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Nuclear Data Center, Upton, New York 11973, USA.

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Vol. 124, Iss. 25 — 26 June 2020

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Physical Review Letters

Search for Nova Presolar Grains: γ-Ray Spectroscopy of Ar34 and its Relevance for the Astrophysical Cl33(p,γ) Reaction

Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 252702 – Published 26 June 2020

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Search for Nova Presolar Grains: $γ$ -Ray Spectroscopy of ${}^{34}{Ar}$ and its Relevance for the Astrophysical ${}^{33}{Cl} (p, γ)$ Reaction