Studies in Nuclear Structure and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Using Proton Beams

We present the results of our measurements using proton beams to address two different problems, namely, inelastic scattering of proton by C-12 and radiative capture of proton by deuteron. The C-12(p, p'gamma)C-12 reaction was carried out with proton-beam energies ranging from 8 to 22 MeV. The differential and total cross section of gamma rays from the 4.438, 9.64, 12.7 and 15.1 MeV states were measured at all the beam energies and compared with detailed Optical Model calculations. We report, for the first time, the cross section and the branching ratio of the 9.64 MeV state. In a different experiment, cross sections and astrophysical S(E) factors for p + d capture reaction were measured for the first time at CM energies of 66, 116 and 166 keV. The measured values at these three new energies are found to be in good agreement with global set of data and in nice agreement with recent theoretical calculations.