The existence of $^{ 12}{ \rm C} + { }^{ 16}{ \rm O}$ molecular resonances at sub-barrier energy has been a significant problem in nuclear astrophysics because they strongly affect the $^{ 12}{ \rm C} + { }^{ 16}{ \rm O}$ fusion reaction rate in type Ia supernovae and heavy stars. However, experimental surveys have been limited to 4~MeV and cannot access the deep sub-barrier energy due to a very small fusion cross section. Here we predict a couple of resonances with $J^\pi=0^+$, $2^+$, and $4^+$ in the deep sub-barrier energy based on the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics calculation that reproduces the known resonances and low-lying spectrum of $^{ 28}{ \rm Si}$.
Categories: nucl-th astro-ph.SR nucl-ex