Background Over the last 60 years, a large amount of experimental nuclear data has been obtained for reactions which probe the 16 O compound nucleus near the alpha and proton separation energies, the energy regimes most important for nuclear astrophysics. Difficulties and inconsistencies in R-matrix fits of the individual reactions prompt a more complete analysis.Purpose Determine the level of consistency between the wide variety of experimental data using a multiple entrance/exit channel R-matrix framework. Using a consistent set of data from multiple reaction channels, attain an improved fitting for the 15 N(p, γ0) 16 O reaction data.Methods Reaction data for all available reaction channels were fit simultaneous using a multichannel R-matrix code.Results Over the wide range of experimental data considered, a high level of consistency was found, resulting in a single consistent R-matrix fit which described the broad level structure of 16 O below Ex = 13.5 MeV. The resulting fit was used to extract an improved determination of the low energy S-factor for the reactions 15 N(p, γ) 16 O and 15 N(p, α) 12 C.
ConclusionThe feasibility and advantages of a complete multiple entrance/exit channel R-matrix description for the broad level structure of 16 O has been achieved. A future publication will investigate the possible effects of the multiple channel analysis on the reaction 12 C(α, γ) 16 O.