The synthesis of all
heavy elements with A > 60 has been attributed primarily to
neutron-capture processes. Advances in our understanding of these processes,
and of the astrophysical sites where they occur -- such as red giants and
possibly supernovae -- require advances in
laboratory measurements of neutron-capture processes. The overwhelming
majority of (n,gamma) cross section measurements, which comprise the crucial
input for astrophysical models of heavy element nucleosynthesis, have been
made at one facility: the Oak Ridge
Electron Linear Accelerator (ORELA). Its long history in the
field of (n,gamma) measurements, along with recent technical
improvements and a new program of (n,alpha) measurements addressing
p-process explosive nucleosynthesis, make ORELA uniquely suited to enable
further advances in our understanding of heavy element nucleosynthesis.
88Sr(n,gamma) P.E. Koehler, R.R. Winters, K.H. Guber, T. Rauscher, J. A. Harvey,
S. Raman, R. R. Spencer, J. C. Blackmon, D. C. Larson, D. W. Bardayan,
T. A. Lewis
Phys. Rev. C62 (2000) 055803
7Li(n,gamma) J.C. Blackmon, A.E. Champagne, J.K. Dickens, J.A. Harvey, M.A. Hofstee,
S. Kopecky, D.C. Larson, D.C. Powell, S. Raman, M.S. Smith
Phys. Rev. C 54 (1996) 383.
Research sponsored, in part, by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed
by UT-Battelle LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract
DE-AC05-00OR22725.