Eur. Phys. J. A (2025) 61: 57
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-025-01521-9

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Proton capture on $_{}^{90}$Zr revisited

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Notre Dame, 46556, Notre Dame, IN, USA
² National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, 48824, East Lansing, MI, USA
³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, 48824, East Lansing, MI, USA
⁴ University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 27599, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

^a anna.simon@nd.edu

Received: 30 August 2024
Accepted: 20 February 2025
Published online: 18 March 2025

Abstract

The $_{}^{90}$Zr(p,$\gamma$)$_{}^{91}$Nb reaction is one of the important reactions in the $A\approx 90$ mass region and part of the nucleosynthesis path responsible for production of $_{}^{92}$Mo during the $\gamma$-process. Discrepant data in the literature provide a cross section that varies up to 30% within the Gamow window for the $_{}^{90}$Zr(p,$\gamma$)$_{}^{91}$Nb reaction. Thus, the cross section measurements of $_{}^{90}$Zr(p,$\gamma$)$_{}^{91}$Nb reaction were revisited using the $\gamma$-summing technique. The results are consistent with the lower-value cross sections found in the literature. Based on the new data an updated reaction rate for $_{}^{90}$Zr(p,$\gamma$)$_{}^{91}$Nb is provided that is up to 20% higher than that obtained from the non-smoker code.