Application of the THM to the investigation of reactions induced by unstable nuclei: the 18F(p,α)15O case

The Trojan Horse Method is applied to the investigation of the18F(p,a)15O reaction, by extractingthe quasi free contribution to the2H(18F,a15O)nprocess. For the first time the method is applied to a reaction ofastrophysical importance involving a radioactive nucleus. After investigating the reaction mechanism populat-ing thea+15O+nexit channel, we could extract the18F(p,a)15O cross section and calculate the astrophysicalfactor over the 0-1 MeV energy interval. The possibility of exploring the cross section with no need of ex-trapolation allowed us to to point out the possible occurrence of a 7/2+state at 126 keV, which would stronglyinfluence the trend of the astrophysical factor at the energies of astrophysical interest. However, the low energyresolution prevents us to draw definite conclusions. Possible astrophysical consequences are also discussed,motivating further work on this reaction.