Energy-dependent analysis of  ¹⁶⁹ Tm reactions

Abstract

Alpha-induced reactions on heavy nuclei play a pivotal role in the nucleosynthesis of proton-rich isotopes via the astrophysical p-process. In this work, we present a detailed investigation of the ¹⁶⁹ Tm( α , γ ) ¹⁷³ Lu and ¹⁶⁹ Tm( α , n ) ¹⁷² Lu reaction channels through systematically evaluated cross-sections and newly derived astrophysical S -factors over a wide energy range relevant to stellar environments. The available experimental datasets are critically assessed and compared with theoretical calculations performed using the TALYS and NON-SMOKER codes. Special emphasis is placed on the sensitivity of the results to key nuclear physics inputs, including α -optical model potentials, nuclear level densities and γ -ray strength functions. The competition between the ( α , γ ) and ( α , n ) channels is analyzed in detail, particularly around the neutron emission threshold, revealing the dominant reaction pathways under p-process conditions. The extracted S -factors exhibit distinct energy-dependent behaviors that provide insight into the underlying reaction mechanisms in the heavy-mass region. The results demonstrate that these reactions provide valuable constraints on p-process nucleosynthesis pathways in explosive astrophysical environments, constraining the timescales and pathways of p-process nucleosynthesis in explosive astrophysical environments. Due to the scarcity of experimental data, theoretical model calculations and self-consistent analyses are indispensable for nuclear data evaluation. Consequently, the present study develops a semi-empirical scaling formalism, thereby reducing nuclear uncertainties in p-process research.