A new attempt on measurement of the F-19(p,[alpha])O-16 reaction cross section towards elucidating nucleosynthesis of fluorine

11, 148 leaves ; illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 29 cmIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-148).Galactic fluorine abundance is strongly dependent on the conditions in the astrophysical sites. This feature makes it useful to probe different nucleosynthesis scenarios, mainly in the AGB stars. It is also important in understanding s-process elements production and mixing processes in AGB stars. The observed upper limit of fluorine abundance is much lower than the one predicted with most recent AGB models, hinting at some catalytic material activating fluorine destruction via reactions involving fluorine, in particular 19F(p,α)16O. Therefore, it is of vital importance to get an insight into this destruction channel. Despite of its importance, the astrophysical S-factor of this reaction is poorly known from previous studies, at astrophysical energies. In this work, observations and data analysis on 19F(p,α)16O will be discussed. This reaction was measured in inverse kinematics at the ISAC rare isotope beam facility at TRIUMF. The 19F beam, at mid-target Ecm = 2.35 MeV, was impinged on a solid hydrogen target at IRIS spectroscopy station. In an attempt to identify the ground state in 16O, missing mass spectrum technique is used in the analysi