Indirect study of the astrophysically important 15O(α,γ)19Ne reaction through 2H(18Ne,19Ne)1H

The O-15(alpha,gamma)Ne-19 reaction is generally considered as a potential breakout reaction from the hot CNO cycle. Under nova conditions, the reaction rate is dominated by a single sub-Coulomb resonance at E-c.m.= 504 keV which corresponds to a Ne-19 excitation energy of E-R = 4.033 MeV. Results from a d(Ne-18,Ne-19)p experiment show that states of astrophysical interest are populated in this reaction. An upper limit for the alpha-branching ratio of the 4.033 MeV state was identified and branching ratios for other states in Ne-19 were found to be in good agreement with stable beam based results.