FAST-NEUTRON CAPTURE REACTIONS IN NUCLEAR ASTROPHYSICS

The cross sections of the neutron capture reaction on light nuclei, pr otons, C-12 and O-16, were measured at astrophysically relevant energi es between 10 and 300 keV. They are not only important for estimating yields of elements in the primordial nucleosynthesis, stellar nucleosy nthesis of s-, r-, and p-processes, but also to study the role of meso n exchange currents, the nuclear structure and the reaction mechanism. In the measurement, we used a prompt gamma-ray detection method, comb ined with a pulsed neutron beam, and a recently developed Monte-Carlo code, TIME-MULTI, to correct for neutron multiple-scattering effects i n a sample.