Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 16: Nuclear Astrophysics II

HK 16.2: Talk

Tuesday, March 17, 2026, 16:45–17:00, PHIL A 602

Results for the (n, γ)-reaction on natural Krypton via the actiavion method. — •Jan Butz, Leon Fähnrich, Carolin Grün, Alina Gottschalk, Tanja Heftrich, Samira Ikerkourn, Felix Panholzer, and Davud Sokolovic — Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

An important step in understanding the origin of life is to study stellar nucleosynthesis. The abundance of elements up to iron is produced almost exclusively through nuclear fusion, whereas most heavy elements are formed via neutron-capture in the s- and r-processes. The s-process occurs inside the shell burning of massive and asymptotic giant branch stars, while the r-process, however, requires extreme conditions, like type II supernovae or neutron star mergers.

Krypton plays a vital role in the s-process due to the branching points of ⁸¹Kr and ⁸⁵Kr. These branching points are nuclei where the decay rate is of the same order of magnitude as the neutron capture rate, r_β≈ r_n. To gain insight into these points, it is crucial to study the (n, γ) reaction and how these nuclei behave under stellar conditions. The cross sections for the ⁷⁸Kr(n, γ)⁷⁹Kr and ⁸⁴Kr(n, γ)^85mKr reactions could be determined at various temperatures using a natural krypton sample and the activation method. The resulting values and outlook will be presented.

Keywords: s-process; neutron-capture cross-section; krypton; activation experiments