A New Measurement Of The Astrophysical Li-8(D, T)Li-7 Reaction

The excitation function of the Li-8(d,t)Li-7 reaction was directly measured using Li-8 beam irradiating a deuterated polyethylene target at center-of-mass system beam energies (E-cm) between 0.3 and 1.2 MeV. This is the first cross section measurement of the above reaction below E-cm = 1.5 MeV, covering Gamow peaks for 1-3 x 10(9) K of astrophysical interest. A broad resonance-like structure was observed at around E-cm = 0.8 MeV. The astrophysical reaction rate deduced from the present result is far larger than the previously reported values estimated from extrapolation of data observed at higher energies, roughly by one order of magnitude at about 1 x 10(9) K. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.