Abstract
Knowledge of the 3He(3He,2p)4He reaction is important for understanding stellar burning and
solar neutrino production. Previous measurements have found a surprisingly large rise in the cross
section at low energies that could be due to a low energy resonance in the 3He + 3He (6Be) system
or electron screening. In the 6Be nucleus, however, no excited states have been observed above the
first 2+ state at Ex = 1:67 MeV up to 23 MeV, even though several are expected. The d(7Be,t)6Be
reaction has been studied for the first time to search for resonances in the 6Be nucleus that may
affect our understanding of the 3He(3He,2p)4He reaction. A 100-MeV radioactive 7Be beam from
the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) was used to bombard CD2 targets, and tritons
were detected by the Silicon Detector Array (SIDAR). It appears that a combination of reaction
mechanisms are necessary to explain the observed triton energy spectrum.
