Cococubed.com 12C(α,γ)16O Reaction Rate
Home Astronomy research   Software Infrastructure:      MESA      FLASH-X      STARLIB      MESA-Web      starkiller-astro      My instruments   White dwarf pulsations:      12C(α,γ) & overshooting      Probe of 12C(α,γ)16O      Impact of 22Ne      Impact of ν cooling      Variable white dwarfs      MC reaction rates      Micronovae      Novae   White dwarf supernova:      Stable nickel production      Remnant metallicities      Colliding white dwarfs      Merging white dwarfs      Ignition conditions      Metallicity effects      Central density effects      Detonation density      Tracer particle burning      Subsonic burning fronts      Supersonic fronts      W7 profiles   Massive stars:      Pop III with HST/JWST      Rotating progenitors      3D evolution to collapse      MC reaction rates      Pre-SN variations   Massive star supernova:      Yields of radionuclides      26Al & 60Fe      44Ti, 60Co & 56Ni      SN 1987A light curve      Constraints on Ni/Fe      An r-process      Effects of 12C +12C   Neutron Stars and Black Holes:      Black Hole spectrum      Mass Gap with LVK      Compact object IMF      He burn neutron stars   Neutrino Emission:      Neutrino emission from stars      Identifying the Pre-SN      Neutrino HR diagram      Pre-SN Beta Processes      Pre-SN neutrinos   Stars:      Hypatia catalog      SAGB stars      Nugrid Yields I      He shell convection      BBFH at 40 years      γ-rays within 100 Mpc      Iron Pseudocarbynes   Pre-Solar Grains:      C-rich presolar grains      SiC Type U/C grains      Grains from massive stars      Placing the Sun      SiC Presolar grains   Chemical Evolution:      Radionuclides in 2020s      Zone models H to Zn      Mixing ejecta   Thermodynamics, Opacities & Networks      Radiative Opacity      Skye EOS      Helm EOS      Five EOSs      Equations of State      12C(α,γ)16O Rate      Proton-rich NSE      Reaction networks      Bayesian reaction rates   Verification Problems:      Validating an astro code      Su-Olson      Cog8      Mader      RMTV      Sedov      Noh Software Instruments AAS Journals    2025 AAS YouTube    2025 AAS Peer Review Workshops 2025 ASU Energy in Everyday Life 2025 MESA Classroom Other Stuff:    Bicycle Adventures    Illustrations    Presentations Contact: F.X.Timmes my one page vitae, full vitae, research statement, and teaching statement.	The 12C(α,γ)16O reaction and its implications for stellar helium burning (2017) The creation of carbon and oxygen in our Universe is one of the forefront questions in nuclear astrophysics. The determination of the abundance of these elements is key to our understanding of both the formation of life on Earth and to the life cycles of stars. While nearly all models of different nucleosynthesis environments are affected by the production of carbon and oxygen, a key ingredient, the precise determination of the reaction rate of $^{12}$C($\alpha , \gamma$)$^{16}$O, has long remained elusive. This is owed to the reaction's inaccessibility, both experimentally and theoretically. Nuclear theory has struggled to calculate this reaction rate because the cross section is produced through different underlying nuclear mechanisms. Isospin selection rules suppress the E1 component of the ground state cross section, creating a unique situation where the E1 and E2 contributions are of nearly equal amplitudes. Experimentally there have also been great challenges. Measurements have been pushed to the limits of state-of-the-art techniques, often developed for just these measurements. The data have been plagued by uncharacterized uncertainties, often the result of the novel measurement techniques that have made the different results challenging to reconcile. However, the situation has markedly improved in recent years, and the desired level of uncertainty 10% may be in sight. In this review article the current understanding of this critical reaction is summarized. The emphasis is placed primarily on the experimental work and interpretation of the reaction data, but discussions of the theory and astrophysics are also pursued. The main goal is to summarize and clarify the current understanding of the reaction and then point the way forward to an improved determination of the reaction rate. Figure 29 - Comparison of the reaction rate and uncertainty calculated in this work (orange band, solid central line) and that from Kunz et al. (2002) (blue band, dashed central line) normalized to the adopted value from Angulo et al. (1999) (NACRE compilation) (gray band, solid central line). The deviations at higher temperature are the result of the different narrow resonance and cascade transitions that were considered in the different works.