Speaker
Description
Helium burning is a crucial phase for stellar evolution, playing a key role in the production of elements like carbon, oxygen, and fluorine, which significantly impact the chemical evolution of the Universe.
Precise measurements of nuclear reaction rates at helium-burning astrophysical energies are challenging and essential for constraining stellar models and understanding nucleosynthesis pathways. We report on new measurements of the $^{14}$N($\alpha,\gamma$)$^{18}$F and $^{15}$N($\alpha,\gamma$)$^{19}$F reactions, performed at the Felsenkeller 5 MV accelerator laboratory in Dresden, Germany. These reactions contribute to fluorine production, an element whose origin remains a long-standing puzzle in nuclear astrophysics. Details on the experimental setup, preliminary results, and future plans for studying other key helium-burning reactions will be presented.
