Measurement of the 18Ne(a,p_0)21Na reaction cross section in the burning   energy region for X-ray bursts
  The 18Ne(a,p)21Na reaction provides one of the main HCNO-breakout routes into the rp-process in X-ray bursts. The 18Ne(a,p_0)21Na reaction cross section has been determined for the first time in the Gamow energy region for peak temperatures T=2GK by measuring its time-reversal reaction 21Na(p,a)18Ne in inverse kinematics. The astrophysical rate for ground-state to ground-state transitions was found to be a factor of 2 lower than Hauser-Feshbach theoretical predictions. Our reduced rate will affect the physical conditions under which breakout from the HCNO cycles occurs via the 18Ne(a,p)21Na reaction. 
P. J. C. Salter, M. Aliotta, T. Davinson, H. Al Falou, A. Chen, B.   Davids, B. R. Fulton, N. Galinski, D. Howell, G. Lotay,...
nucl-ex