Astrophysics between lockdown and upgrade

On May 18 following the prescriptions given by INFN nationwide and the local regulations of INFN LNS experimental activities at LNS has re-started, following the schedule which was approved before the COVID emergency. Two of the experiments, both regarding nuclear Astrophysics, were suggested by the ASFIN2 collaboration, of the national scientific commission 3. The experiments, successfully completed thanks to the extraordinary technical support of the LNS staff, that we gratefully mention, were aimed to measuring the cross section of the reazione ²⁷Al(p,α)²⁴Mg and studying the ¹⁰Be+⁴He fusion which have strong motivations in the field of the Multimessenger astronomy and solar system formation. The overall data taking lasted more than 30 days.

The first experiment, ALFA (ALuminum For Astrophysics), started on 18/5, represents the first measurement performed in an INFN national laboratory (among the first in Europe) after the great lockdown. The second, CHAIN, takes advantage of the unstable isotope ¹⁰Be accelerated with the LNS tandem rapresents the last experiment performed at LNS before the accelerator shutdown due to the upgrading of the LNS Cyclotron.

Picture of the ALFA experimental setup inside CHAMBER 2000 at LNS

2D identification spectrum of the products of the ¹⁰Be+⁴He fusion