Seminarium Fizyki Wielkich Energii

An active-target Time Projection Chamber (TPC) has been developed at the University of Warsaw for studying nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest. The flagship experiment of the detector is the measurement of the cross-section of 16O(gamma, alpha)12C photodisintegration reaction down to the energy of 1 MeV in the centre of mass using monochromatic gamma-ray beams at HIgS, USA and ELI-NP, Romania.In the summer of 2021, the first experiments with the full-scale prototype of the chamber took place at the IFJ PAN Cracow.The performance of the detector was tested in experiment at the Van de Graaf accelerator at the IFJ PAN. The CO2 filled TPC was exposed to the13 MeV gamma beam produced in the 15N(p, gamma)16O reaction. Events corresponding to the 16O(gamma, alpha)12C photodisintegration reaction were observed.In another experiment, the neutron beam of IGN-14 MeV neutron generator at the IFJ PAN was used to populate the Hoyle state in in the 12C(n,n’) reaction with CO2 gas inside the detector. The products of 3-alpha decay of the Hoyle state were observed.Preliminary results of the measurements at IFJ will be presented and an outlook on the experiment at HIgS and plans for ELI-NP will be given.This scientific work is supported by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education from the funds for years 2019-2021 dedicated to implement the international co-funded project no. 4087/ELI-NP/2018/0, by University of Connecticut under the Collaborative Research Contract no. UConn-LNS_UW/7/2018 and by the National Science Centre, Poland, under Contract no. UMO-2019/33/B/ST2/02176.