O17(3He,d)18F reaction and its implication in theO17destruction in the CNO cycle in stars

Abstract
The proton stripping reaction He17,d)18F has been used to reinvestigate the proton widths of the states in F18 near the proton threshold. Distorted-wave angular distributions were calculated using appropriate methods for stripping to unbound states. The deduced proton width for the level at Ex=5.673 MeV (Jπ =1) is significantly larger than a previous value obtained from a direct radiative capture experiment. A subthreshold state at Ex=5.603 MeV (Jπ =1+) was found to have a rather large proton reduced width so that this state contributes significantly to the astrophysical S factor at low energy. These measurements lead to substantial changes in the stellar reaction rate for the (p17)14N reaction. This result is discussed in relation to recent observation of the isotopic abundance ratio O16 /17O in red giant stars. In addition, the nuclear structure of F18 is studied via the measurement of spectroscopic factors for most of the levels in F18 bound against proton decay.