title: First Direct Measurement of (12)C((12)C,n)(23)Mg at Stellar Energies.
abstract: Neutrons produced by the carbon fusion reaction (12)C((12)C,n)(23)Mg play an important role in stellar nucleosynthesis. However, past studies have shown large discrepancies between experimental data and theory, leading to an uncertain cross section extrapolation at astrophysical energies. We present the first direct measurement that extends deep into the astrophysical energy range along with a new and improved extrapolation technique based on experimental data from the mirror reaction (12)C((12)C,p)(23)Na. The new reaction rate has been determined with a well-defined uncertainty that exceeds the precision required by astrophysics models. Using our constrained rate, we find that (12)C((12)C,n)(23)Mg is crucial to the production of Na and Al in pop-III pair instability supernovae. It also plays a nonnegligible role in the production of weak s-process elements, as well as in the production of the important galactic γ-ray emitter (60)Fe.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.|Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
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authors.lastname: Bucher
authors.affiliation: Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: X D
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Monash Center for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia.|Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao-Tong University, CNA, Shanghai 200240, People's Republic of China.|School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heger
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Almaraz-Calderon
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
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authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Ayangeakaa
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beard
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
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authors.lastname: Best
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Browne
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
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authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cahillane
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
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authors.lastname: Couder
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: R J
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authors.lastname: deBoer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
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authors.lastname: Kontos
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
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authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lamm
authors.affiliation: China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing 102413, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Long
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lyons
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
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authors.lastname: Notani
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
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authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: N
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authors.lastname: Paul
authors.affiliation: Konkoly Observatory, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15-17, H-1121 Budapest, Hungary.|Department of Physics, University of Basel, Basel CH-4056, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
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authors.lastname: Pignatari
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
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authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stech
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Talwar
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: M
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authors.lastname: Wiescher
authors.affiliation: Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA.
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Woosley