Validity test of 20Ne as a Trojan Horse nucleus toward the measurement of the 16O+16O fusion cross section

The 16O+16O fusion reaction is important for understanding explosive oxygen burning during late evolutionary stages of massive stars as well as for understanding low-energy heavy-ion fusion-reaction mechanism. This paper represents the first step to determine the excitation function for the major exit channels, α+28Si and p+31P, toward stellar energies indirectly by the Trojan Horse Method via the 16O(20Ne,α28Si)4He and 16O(20Ne,p31P)4He three-body reactions. Indeed, here we report on a validity test of the approach showing, for the first time, the possibility to use 20Ne as Trojan Horse nucleus. Results on the reaction channel identification and reaction mechanism determination, with particular emphasis on the momentum distribution of the α-16O inter-cluster motion in the projectile 20Ne nucleus are thoroughly discussed. Fair agreements of the present results with theoretical predictions indicate a possibility to identify the quasi-free process, which is the first step for the application of the Trojan Horse method to independently measure the 16O+16O fusion cross section in the next future.