EPJ Web of Conferences 3, 01014 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20100301014

Four-body neutron-recoil recombination reaction as an alternative path for bridging the A = 5, 8 gap in neutron-rich nucleosynthesis scenarios

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
² Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, CSIC, Serrano 123, E-28006 Madrid, Spain

^a e-mail: fedorov@phys.au.dk

Abstract

In neutron-rich nucleosynthesis scenarios the mass gaps A = 5, 8 are assumed to be bridged by threebody electromagnetic recombination reaction α(αn, γ)⁹Be. We suggest an alternative path: the nuclear four-body neutron-recoil recombination reaction α(αnn, n)⁹Be. A qualitative estimate of the reaction rate for the alternative reaction shows that for higher neutron densities the rate is comparable with the electromagnetic rate.