Measurement of 17O(p,γ)18F between the narrow resonances at Erlab=193 and 519 keV

The O-17(p,gamma)F-18 reaction sensitively influences hydrogen burning nucleosynthesis in a number of stellar sites, including classical novae. These thermonuclear explosions, taking place in close binary star systems, produce peak temperatures in the range of T = 100-400 MK. Recent results indicate that the thermonuclear rates for this reaction in this particular temperature range are dominated by the direct capture process. We report on the measurement of the O-17(p,gamma)F-18 cross section between the narrow resonances at E-r(lab) = 193 and 519 keV, where the S factor is expected to vary smoothly with energy. We extract the direct capture contribution from the total cross section and demonstrate that earlier data are inconsistent with our results.