Speaker
Description
In recent years, the Trojan Horse Method (THM) has been used to investigate the low-energy cross sections of several reactions of interest for Astrophysics. We present two cases in which the application of THM reaction rates has modified the prediction of stellar nucleosynthesis. In the first case, the determination of the strengths of the 20 keV and 65 keV resonances in the $^{18}$O(p,α)$^{15}$N and $^{17}$O(p,α)$^{15}$N reactions, respectively, allows to state that the oxygen isotopic mix found in some pristine meteorites is the signature of low-temperature proton-capture nucleosynthesis typical of evolved low mass stars. In the second case the studies of the $^{19}$F(p,α)$^{16}$O and $^{19}$F(α,p)$^{16}$O reactions via the Trojan Horse Method hint to an enhancements in efficiency of fluorine destruction by H and He-burning of AGB stars, which are considered the main source of fluorine in galaxies.
