SIMBAD references

2026ApJ...999....8B - Astrophys. J., 999, 8 (2026/March-1)

Direct Measurement of ⁵⁹Cu(p,α)⁵⁶Ni Precludes a Strong NiCu Cycle in Type-I X-Ray Bursts.

BHATHI N., RANDHAWA J.S., KANUNGO R., REFSGAARD J., ALCORTA M., AHN T., ANDREOIU C., BARDAYAN D., BHATTACHARJEE S.S., DAVIDS B., CHRISTIAN G., CHEN A.A., COLEMAN R., GARRETT P.E., GRINYER G.F., GYABENG FUAKYE E., HACKMAN G., JAIN R., KAPOOR K., KRUCKEN R., LAFFOLEY A., LENNARZ A., LIANG J., MEISEL Z., PSALTIS A., RADICH A., ROCCHINI M., ROJO J.S., SAEI N., SAXENA M., SINGH M., SVENSSON C.E., SUBRAMANIAM P., TALEBITAHER A., UPADHYAYULA S., WATERFIELD C., WILLIAMS J., WILLIAMS M. and ZUBAIR M.A.

Abstract (from CDS):

Model-observation comparisons of type-I X-ray bursts (XRBs) can reveal the properties of accreting neutron star systems, including the neutron star compactness. XRBs are powered by nuclear burning, and a handful of reactions have been shown to impact the model results. Reactions in the NiCu cycles, featuring a competition between ⁵⁹Cu(p,γ)⁶⁰Zn and ⁵⁹Cu(p,α)⁵⁶Ni, have been shown to be among the most important reactions as they are a critical checkpoint in rp-process flow and significantly impact the light curves and burst ashes. We report a direct measurement of ⁵⁹Cu(p,α)⁵⁶Ni, bringing stringent constraints on this reaction rate. New results rule out a strong NiCu cycle in XRBs, with a negligible degree of recycling, ≤5% up to 1.5 GK. The new reaction rate, when varied within new uncertainty limits, shows no impact on one-zone XRB model light curves tailored for clocked-burster GS1826-24, hence removing an important nuclear physics uncertainty in the model-observation comparison.

Journal keyword(s): X-ray bursts - Nuclear astrophysics - Explosive nucleosynthesis

Simbad objects: 1

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