Evaluation of the implementation of the R-matrix formalism with reference to the astrophysically important 18F(p,α)15O reaction

Background. The R-Matrix formalism is a crucial tool in the study of nuclear astrophysics reactions, and many codes have been written to implement the relevant mathematics. One such code makes use of Visual Basic macros. A further open source code, AZURE, written in the FORTRAN programming language is available from the JINA collaboration and a C++ version, AZURE2, has recently become available. Purpose The detailed mathematics and extensive programming required to implement broadly applicable R-Matrix codes make comparisons between different codes highly desirable in order to check for errors. This paper presents a comparison of the three codes based around data and recent results of the astrophysically important F-18(p,alpha)O-15 reaction. Methods Using the same analysis techniques as in the work of Mountford et al. parameters ire extracted from the two JlNA codes, and the resulting cross sections are compared. This includes both refitting data with each code and making low energy extrapolations. Results All extracted parameters are shown to be broadly consistent between the three codes and the resulting calculations are in good agreement barring a known low-energy problem in the original AZURE code. Conclusion The three codes are shown to be broadly consistent with each other and equally valid in the study of astrophysical reactions, although one must be careful when considering low lying, narrow resonances which can be problematic when integrating. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.