The 17F(α, p)20Ne Reaction Rate in Type 1 X-Ray Bursts from the Inverse Reaction*

The 17F(α, p)20Ne reaction has been identified as an alternate pathway for

breakout from the hot-CNO cycle that can be important in some X-ray burst

scenarios. We have measured the 20Ne(p, α)17F cross section at low energies

ranging from 4.80 to 7.60 MeV using a proton beam on a neon gas cell with an

activation method and NaI detectors at the Fox Accelerator Laboratory at

Florida State University. Later, we measured the same reaction through

inverse kinematics with a 20Ne beam on a methylene target at the ATLAS

facility at Argonne National Laboratory. We used an annular Si strip detector for alpha

detection with recoiling heavy ions detected in the Enge spectrograph by the

MONICA focal plane detector. Studying the inverse kinematics reaction

allows us to distinguish alpha particles being emitted either to the ground or

first excited state of 17F. Cross sections will be compared to previous work,

and preliminary results from an R-matrix analysis constraining properties of

states in 21Na will be presented.