Constraining the Astrophysical S-Factor of the 3He(α, γ)7Be Reaction

Abstract

Due to its relevance to the Standard Solar Model and to the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis calculations, the cross section of the 3He(α, γ)7Be reaction have been widely studied both from the theoretical and the experimental fronts. We report here on cross section measurements in the energy region Ec.m.=1- 3 MeV using the direct recoil counting method in an attempt to solve the discrepancies among the previous data sets and calculations in this energy region and thus to constrain the extrapolations of the S34(E) curve to astrophysical energies.