Global R-matrix analysis of the 11B(α,n)14N reaction

Abstract

Abstract Reactions that populate the 15N system have implications for nucleosynthesis through the 11B(α, n)14N and 14N(n, p)14C reactions and the 14N(n, p)14C reaction is also a key component in modeling atmospheric 14C production. A convenient characteristic of this system is that the α-particle, proton, and neutron separation energies are all within ≍1 MeV of one another. Further, it has been observed that 11B+α, 14N+n and 14C+p induced reactions all populate many of the same resonances near their reaction thresholds. This strongly facilitates the simultaneous analysis of data for all three of these entrance partitions using a global R-matrix analysis, which in turn provides a method of comparing the consistency among the different experimental measurements. In this work, a new measurement has been performed for the 11B(α, n)14N reaction, which gives a more accurate description of the cross section, in particular over an important interference region. This new data is combined with results from previous measurements, which populate a similar excitation energy range in the 15N system, to produce a global fit that includes 11B(α, n)14N reaction data for the first time.