Open Access
Issue
ND 2007
2007
Article Number 351
Number of page(s) 4
Section Astrophysics applications
DOI https://doi.org/10.1051/ndata:07368
Published online 17 June 2008
International Conference on Nuclear Data for Science and Technology 2007
DOI: 10.1051/ndata:07368

Improved predictions of nuclear reaction rates for astrophysics applications with the TALYS reaction code

S. Goriely1, S. Hilaire2 and A.J. Koning3

1  Institut d'Astronomie et d'Astrophysique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus de la Plaine CP 226, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
2  CEA/DAM Île-de-France, DPTA/Service de Physique Nucléaire, BP. 12, 91680 Bruyères-le-Châtel, France
3  Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group, P.O. Box 25, 1755 ZG Petten, The Netherlands

sgoriely@astro.ulb.ac.be

Published online: 21 May 2008

Abstract
Nuclear reaction rates for astrophysics applications are traditionally determined on the basis of Hauser-Feshbach reaction codes, like MOST. These codes use simplified schemes to calculate the capture reaction cross section on a given target nucleus, not only in its ground state but also on the different thermally populated states of the stellar plasma at a given temperature. Such schemes include a number of approximations that have never been tested, such as an approximate width fluctuation correction, the neglect of delayed particle emission during the electromagnetic decay cascade or the absence of the pre-equilibrium contribution at increasing incident energies. New developments have been brought to the reaction code TALYS to estimate the Maxwellian-averaged reaction rates of astrophysics relevance. These new developments give us the possibility to calculate with an improved accuracy the reaction cross sections and the corresponding astrophysics rates. The TALYS predictions for the thermonuclear rates of astrophysics relevance are presented and compared with those obtained with the MOST code on the basis of the same nuclear ingredients for nuclear structure properties, optical model potential, nuclear level densities and γ-ray strength. It is shown that, in particular, the pre-equilibrium process significanly influences the astrophysics rates of exotic neutron-rich nuclei. The reciprocity theorem traditionally used in astrophysics to determine photorates is also shown no to be valid for exotic nuclei. The predictions obtained with different nuclear inputs are also analyzed to provide an estimate of the theoretical uncertainties still affecting the reaction rate prediction far away from the experimentally known regions.



© CEA 2008