Branching ratio measurements of the 7.12-MeV state in 16O Original Research Article

Knowledge of the γ-ray branching ratios of the 7.12-MeV state of 16O is important for the extrapolation of the 12C(α,γ)16O cross section to astrophysical energies. Ground state transitions provide most of the 12C(α,γ)16O total cross section while cascade transitions have contributions of the order of 10-20%. Determining the 7.12 → 6.92-MeV branching ratio will also result in a better extrapolation of the cascade and E2 ground state cross section to low energies. We report here on measurements on the branching ratio of the 7.12 → 6.92-MeV transition in 16O.