arXiv subjects

Weike Nan

Publications and source records attributed to Weike Nan.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Design and commissioning of a windowless gas-target system for high-current beams at JUNA

Windowless gas targets avoid the beam-energy loss and straggling introduced by entrance foils and are therefore well suited for direct measurements of low-energy nuclear reactions. A windowless gas-target system designed for operation with milliampere beams has been developed for the Jinping Underground Nuclear Astrophysics facility (JUNA). The system combines three-stage differential pumping, closed-loop gas recovery and purification, a constant-temperature power-compensation calorimeter, and a position-resolved target-thickness monitor based on secondary elastic scattering. Stable operation was achieved over a target-pressure range of 1-3 mbar, with pressure fluctuations below 1% during 8 h of continuous circulation, while the accelerator-side pressure was maintained at approximately $10^{-4}$ Pa. The closed-loop gas-circulation system maintained stable target conditions, while gas-transport calculations indicated that the axial pressure nonuniformity remained within approximately 1.6% under representative operating conditions. Calorimeter measurements were consistent with the thermal calculations, supporting the sensitivity correction used for beam-power determination. Beam commissioning with $^{14}\mathrm{N}(p,\gamma)^{15}\mathrm{O}$ and $^{12}\mathrm{C}(p,\gamma)^{13}\mathrm{N}$ at the 600 kV Cockcroft-Walton accelerator of the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) demonstrated stable operation of the gas-target and $\gamma$-ray detection systems and provided information on the influences of reaction position and beam heating. These results demonstrate the operating stability and diagnostic capability of the system for future high-current, low-energy nuclear-reaction measurements at JUNA.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

New Determination of the $^{14}$C(n, $\gamma$)$^{15}$C Reaction Rate and Its Astrophysical Implications

We present a novel experiment to investigate the spectroscopic factor of the $^{15}$C ground state for the first time using single-neutron $removal$ transfer reactions on $^{15}$C. Two consistent spectroscopic factors were derived from the (p, d) and (d, t) reactions, which were subsequently used to deduce the $^{14}$C(n, $\gamma$)$^{15}$C reaction cross section and the corresponding stellar reaction rate. A typical cross section of (3.89 $\pm$ 0.76) $\mu$b is determined at $E_\mathrm{_{c.m.}}$ = 23.3 keV. At the temperature range of 0.01-4 GK, our new reaction rate is 2.4-3.7 times higher than that of the first direct measurement and 20\%-25\% lower than that of the most recent direct measurement, respectively. Moreover, it is interesting that we can associate a long-standing nuclear structure issue, i.e., the so-called ``quenching'' effect, with this astrophysically relevant reaction. Finally, motivated by astrophysical interests of this reaction decades ago, implications of our new rate on several astrophysical problems are evaluated using state-of-the-art theoretical models. Our calculations demonstrate that the abundances of $^{14}$N and $^{15}$N can be enhanced in the inner regions of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, though with minimal impact on the chemical compositions of the interstellar medium. In the inhomogeneous Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the updated reaction rate can lead to a $\sim 20\%$ variation in the final yields of $^{15}$N in neutron rich regions. For the $r$-process in the core-collapse supernovae, a slight difference of $\sim 0.2\%$ in the final abundances of heavy elements with $A > 90$ can be found by using our new rate.

nucl-ex↗