First radiative proton capture measurements on 107,109-Ag and 112-Cd relevant to the p-process

One of the important, but still unsettled topics in Nuclear Astrophysics is the production of the p-nuclei [1,2]. The p-process relies on an extended reaction network, which can be described theoretically by the Hauser-Feshbach statistical model, which in turn relies strongly on experimental data. To provide reliable data for p-nuclei, an experimental campaign at the Tandem Accelerator Laboratory of NCSR "Demokritos'', focusing on measurements of cross-sections in the ^107,109Ag(p,γ)^108,110Cd [3] and ¹¹²Cd(p,γ)¹¹³In [4]
reactions was carried out. Both reactions were studied using a set of four HPGe detectors via the in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy, while for the latter the activation method was additionally employed to account for the population of a low-lying isomeric state. Total cross sections for proton beam energies lying inside the Gamow window for energies relevant to p-process nucleosynthesis were obtained for the first time. Experimental results are compared to Hauser-Feshbach calculations performed with the latest version of the TALYS code (v1.9) [5]. An overall good agreement has been achieved. These results provide important new input for the theoretical description of the p-process, but additionally for the origin of the cross-point p-nucleus ¹¹³In.