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In the network of reactions present in the Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the 3He(n, p)3H has an important role which impacts the final 7Li abundance. The Trojan Horse Method (THM) has been applied to the 3He(d, pt)H reaction in order to extract the astrophysical S(E)-factor of the 3He(n, p)3H in the Gamow energy range. The experiment will be described in the present work together with the first preliminary results.

In AGB environment, fluorine and sodium abundances are still matter of debate. About 19F (only stable isotope of fluorine), its abundance in the universe is strictly related to standard and extra-mixing processes taking place inside AGB-stars, that are considered to be the most important sites for its production. Nevertheless the way in which it is destroyed is far from being well understood. On the other hand, 23Na presence in Globular Clusters, along with is well-known anticorrelation with oxygen has made clear that this element must be produced in previous generations stars, and intermediatemass AGB stars are one of the possible candidates for its production. For this reason we studied the 19F(α,p)22Ne and 23Na(p,α)20Ne reactions in the energy range of relevance for astrophysics via the Trojan Horse Method (THM), using the three-body reactions 6Li(19F, p22Ne)d and 23Na(d, pn)20Ne.

Asymptotic Normalization Coefficients method is one of the indirect methods used in nuclear astrophysics. The method allows to deduce a direct part of a radiative capture cross section from the measurement of a two body reaction under specific conditions. The experimental works started in collaboration of NPI CAS, TAMU and INFN LNS from 90-ties and continue till the present. The introduction to this method is presented and experimental experiences from NPI CAS and the collaboration are shared.

In recent years, the Trojan Horse Method (THM) has been used to investigate the low-energy cross sections of proton-induced reactions on 17O nuclei, overcoming extrapolation procedures and enhancement effects due to electron screening. We will report on the indirect study of the 17O(p,α)14N reaction via the Trojan Horse Method by applying the approach developed for extracting the resonance strength of narrow resonance in the ultralow energy region. The mean value of the strengths obtained in the two measurements was calculated and compared with the direct data available in literature.

The reaction 17O(n, α)14C was studied using virtual neutrons coming from the quasi-free deuteron break-up in the three body reaction 17O+d → α+14C+p. This technique, called virtual neutron method, extends the Trojan Horse method to neutron-induced reactions allowing to study the reaction cross section avoiding the suppression effects coming from the penetrability of the centrifugal barrier. For incident neutron energies from thermal up to a few hundred keV, direct experiments have shown the population of two out of three expected excited states at energies 8213 keV and 8282 keV and the influence of the sub-threshold level at 8038 keV. In the present experiment the 18O excited state at E* = 8.125 MeV, missing in the direct measurement, is observed. The angular distributions of the populated resonances have been measured for the first time. The results unambiguously indicate the ability of the method to overcome the centrifugal barrier suppression effect and to pick out the contribution of the bare nuclear interaction.

Fusion reactions play a crucial role for several astrophysical scenarios. At the low energies typical of such environments direct measurements of reaction cross sections are very difficult, and even sometimes impossible. In such cases the use of indirect methods can give a substantial help. The Trojan Horse Method (THM) is based on the quasi-free break-up of a nucleus, which can be described in terms of a cluster structure. In such applications the independence of THM results with different break-up schemes, was tested using the quasi free3 He(6Li,αα)H and 3He(7Li,αα)2H reactions. Results were then compared with the direct behaviours obtained from available data as well as with the cross sections extracted from previous indirect investigations of the same binary reactions using a different nuclide as a Trojan Horse nucleus.