First measurement of the 34S(p,γ)35Cl reaction rate through indirect methods for presolar nova grains

Sulphur isotopic ratio measurements may help to establish the astrophysical sites in which certain presolar grains were formed. Nova model predictions of the 34S/32S ratio are, however, unreliable due to the lack of an experimental 34S(p,γ)35Cl reaction rate. To this end, we have measured the 34S(3He,d)35Cl reaction at 20 MeV using a high resolution quadrupole-dipole-dipole-dipole magnetic spectrograph. Twenty-two levels over 6.2 MeV<Ex(35Cl)<7.4 MeV were identified, ten of which were previously unobserved. Proton-transfer spectroscopic factors have been measured for the first time over the energy range relevant for novae. With this new spectroscopic information a new 34S(p,γ)35Cl reaction rate has been determined using a Monte Carlo method. Hydrodynamic nova model calculations have been performed using this new reaction rate. These models show that remaining uncertainties in the 34S(p,γ) rate affect  nucleosynthesis predictions by less than a factor of 1.4, and predict a 34S/32S isotopic ratio of 0.014–0.017. Since recent type II supernova models predict 34S/32S=0.026−0.053, the 34S/32S isotopic ratio may be used, in conjunction with other isotopic signatures, to distinguish presolar grains from oxygen-neon nova and type II supernova origin. Our results address a key nuclear physics uncertainty on which recent considerations discounting the nova origin of several grains depend.