Measurement of the 15O(2p,γ)17Ne cross section by Coulomb dissociation of 17Ne

For the production of proton-rich nuclei during the rp process two-proton capture plays an important role. This process can bridge long-lived waiting points which otherwise hamper the mass flow between CNO material and the FeNi mass region. One of these waiting points is 15O. The three-body radiative capture can proceed sequentially or directly from the three-body continuum. The rate of the 15O(2p,γ)17Ne reaction obtained using the two-successive-proton-capture model has been discussed in J. Goerres et al. (Phys. Rev. C 51, 392, 1995). The role of continuum states (15O+2p) for the rate calculation has been demonstrated in L.V Grigorenko, M.V. Zhukov (Phys. Rev. C 72, 015803, 2005). It has been suggested that the reaction rate can be enhanced by a few orders of magnitude by taking into account the three-body continuum. In order to verify these calculations, we have deduced the 15O(2p,γ)17Ne cross section by studying the time-reversed process, the Coulomb dissociation of 17Ne, at the LAND/R3B setup at GSI, using a 17Ne secondary beam from the fragment separator FRS.