Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 25: Nuclear Astrophysics III

HK 25.5: Talk

Wednesday, March 18, 2026, 15:00–15:15, PHIL A 602

Investigating BBN cross sections: Characterization of the DT neutron generator in Dresden and the new ASTRO beam line — •Max Osswald¹, Daniel Bemmerer², Björn Lehnert¹, Steffen Turkat¹, Frederik Uhlemann¹, and Kai Zuber¹ — ¹TU Dresden — ²Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR)

The Deuterium-Tritium neutron generator of TU Dresden can provide several milliamperes of proton and deuteron beams with energies of up to 350 keV. So far the accelerator was used to generate monoenergetic 14 MeV neutrons for fusion research via the ³H(d,n)⁴He reaction with up to 10¹² n/s.
This contribution will present the feasibility studies and modifications required to transform this neutron production facility into a laboratory, which in addition will also be used for nuclear astrophysics, i.e. investigations of reactions relevant for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN). Key parameters such as beam characterization, energy calibration, and operational limits will be reported, providing the basis for future high-precision cross-section measurements. In addition, the new ASTRO beam line and the collaborative effort to use the ELISSA silicon strip detector array in Dresden will be introduced for the first time. These upgrades enable forthcoming studies of the d(d,p)³H and d(d,n)³He reactions, which currently limit our understanding of the primordial deuterium abundance in BBN models.

Keywords: BBN; Deuterium