R-matrix analysis of 16O reactions

Over the last 60 years, a large amount of experimental nuclear data has been obtained for reactions which probe the $^{16}$O compound nucleus near the alpha and proton separation energies, the energy regimes most important for nuclear astrophysics. Difficulties and inconsistencies in past analysis of the individual reaction data prompt a more complete global analysis with the first aim of determining the level of consistency between the wide variety of experimental data. The global analysis has been performed using a multiple entrance/exit channel \textit{R}-matrix framework. Over the wide range of experimental data considered, a high level of consistency is found between the many different data sets, resulting in a single consistent \textit{R}-matrix fit which describes the broad level structure of $^{16}$O below $E_x$ = 13.5 MeV. The resulting fit is used to re-investigate our current understanding of the reaction components which contribute to the low energy cross sections of $^{15}$N + $p$ and $^{12}$C + $\alpha$ reactions. Work has begun on establishing a better estimate of the reaction rate uncertainties by performing a Monte Carlo analysis on the many data sets considered.