Cu reaction in the νp process*

In astrophysical environments containing both a strong antineutrino flux and neutron-deficient nuclei, the vp process can modify the nucleosynthesis pathway and the ejecta composition. In these environments protons interact with antineutrinos, converting them into free neutrons.These neutrons are then available to undergo neutron-capture reactions on neutron-deficient isotopes present in the system, pushing the composition towards stability. Several (n,p) and (p,γ) reactions have been identified that influence the vp process where the ⁵⁷Ni(p,γ)⁵⁸Cu reaction was found to significantly impact uncertainties in the astrophysical models. While the level structure of ⁵⁸Cu (N=Z) has been studied in detail, many of the low-spin excited states above the proton separation energy that dominate the (p,γ) reaction rate, have relatively large uncertainties or have not been measured. We recently performed a high-resolution in-beam γγ-coincidence experiment using Gammasphere coupled to Neutron Shell to identify transitions from astrophysically important low-spin states in ⁵⁸Cu which were selectively populated via the ⁵⁸Ni(p,n) reaction using a 17-MeV proton beam at ATLAS. Preliminary results will be presented including several newly observed states above the proton separation energy.