deBoer and Wiescher publication featured on BAND

Author: Janet Weikel

Deboer Wiescher
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The Bayesian R-matrix Inference Code Kit (BRICK), which is part of the BAND software framework, has recently been used by BAND member Daniel Odell, his collaborator James deBoer, and their experimental colleagues to analyze several nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest. Particularly notable is their Nature paper on the 19F(p, γ)20Ne rate in primordial stars. Odell and deBoer collaborated with scientists from the China JinPing Underground Laboratory to analyze new data on this reaction taken at that facility. They found its rate in primordial stars was roughly seven times higher than previously thought. This would mean enhanced breakout from the 'warm' carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle, and could explain previously puzzling observations of calcium in the first stars. Further experimental data from underground laboratories, observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, and analyses using Bayesian methods will help refine this picture further.