Eur. Phys. J. A (2013) 49: 60
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2013-13060-5

Special Article - Tools for Experiment and Theory

Radiative capture reactions with heavy beams: extending the capabilities of DRAGON

¹⁹⁸⁹¹ National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, 640 E Shaw Ln, 48223, East Lansing, MI, USA
²⁹⁸⁹¹ Department of Physics & Astronomy, Michigan State University, 567 Wilson Road, 48824, East Lansing, MI, USA
³⁹⁸⁹¹ TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall, V6T 2A3, Vancouver, Canada
⁴⁹⁸⁹¹ Department of Physics, University of York, YO10 5DD, Heslington, York, UK

^* e-mail: SimonA@nscl.msu.edu

Received: 13 February 2013
Revised: 16 April 2013
Accepted: 8 May 2013
Published online: 22 May 2013

Abstract

Understanding the nucleosynthesis of stable proton-rich nuclei requires knowledge of the cross sections for both proton and alpha capture reactions. As some of the nucleosynthesis paths responsible for the production of these nuclei involve reactions on unstable isotopes, it is of particular importance to develop techniques to investigate these reactions. This requires radioactive beams and measurements in inverse kinematics, thus making recoil separators an ideal tool for direct measurements of proton and alpha capture reactions. Here, the application of the DRAGON recoil separator for measurements of capture reactions for heavy beams is presented. The performance of the separator was tested using the ⁵⁸Ni(p,γ)⁵⁹Cu reaction.