New direct investigation of the ¹⁹F(p,α₀)¹⁶O down to 0.2 MeV

We discuss new results concerning the investigation of the ¹⁹F(p,α₀)¹⁶O reaction at very low energies (0.6-0.2 MeV). This reaction is important both in Nuclear Astrophysics, because it closes the CNOF cycle and it is an important fluorine destruction channel in hydrogen rich stellar environments, and in Nuclear Structure, because it allows to study the spectroscopy of the self-conjugated ²⁰Ne compound nucleus. Despite its importance, very few direct data have been published at low energies in the literature. Our work allowed to deduce the S-factor down to ≈ 0.2 MeV and to point out the role played by broad resonances at low energies. The experimental S-factor is ≈1.5-2 times larger than non-resonant extrapolations reported by nacre with potentially important astrophysical consequences.