The astrophysically important 3+ state in 18Ne and the 17F(p, γ)18Ne stellar rate

Knowledge of the ¹⁷F(p, γ)¹⁸Ne reaction rate is important for understanding stellar explosions, but it was uncertain because the properties of an expected but previously unobserved 3⁺ state in ¹⁸Ne were not known. This state would provide a strong s-wave resonance for the ¹⁷F+p system and, depending on its excitation energy, could dominate the stellar reaction rate at temperatures above 0.2 GK. We have observed this missing 3⁺ state by …