Breakup of loosely bound nuclei at intermediate energies as indirect method in nuclear astrophysics: 8B, 9C and the S17, S18 astrophysical factors Original Research Article

We discuss the use of one-nucleon breakup reactions of loosely bound nuclei at intermediate energies as an indirect method in nuclear astrophysics. In particular, the breakup of 8B and 9C is described in detail in terms of an extended Glauber model. Existing experimental data for the breakup of 8B at energies from 30 to 1000 MeV/u and of 9C at 285 MeV/u on light through heavy targets are analyzed. The predictions of the model are in excellent agreement with independent reaction data (reaction cross sections and parallel momentum distributions for core-like fragments). Final state interaction has been included in the Coulomb dissociation component. Glauber model calculations using different effective interactions give consistent, though slightly different results. The results of this new analysis are compared with the earlier one for the astrophysical factor S17(0) for the key reaction for solar neutrino production 7Be(p,γ)8B. They are consistent with the values from most direct measurements and other indirect methods.