Nuclear Astrophysics with Radioactive Nuclear Beams: Indirect Methods

The review describes a number of indirect methods in nuclear astrophysics using radioactive beams: Coulomb dissociation, transfer reactions (the ANC method), breakup of loosely bound nuclei at intermediate energies, the use other spectroscopic measurements, including -decay studies and the determination of resonance parameters. The examples chosen are drawn from the experiments the author was involved in the last decade together with his group at Texas A&M University. One example discussed in particular is that of the reactions used to determine the S17 astrophysical factor for the 7Be(p, )8B reaction, crucial for the understanding the solar neutrino problem. We discuss also the case of the proton drip line nucleus 23Al. From its study we extract data to determine the stellar reaction rates for 22Mg(p, )23Al and 22Na(p, )23Mg. Both breakup and beta-decay methods were used in these latter studies.