Direct Measurement of the ⁵⁹Cu(p,α)⁵⁶Ni Excitation Function to Constrain the Ni--Cu Cycle Strength and Its Impact on Explosive Nucleosynthesis

A new direct measurement of the 59Cu(p,a)56Ni excitation function from 2.43-5.88 MeV in the center-of-mass was performed in inverse kinematics using the high-efficiency MUSIC active-target detector at FRIB. This reaction plays a critical role in constraining the strength of the NiCu cycle in different explosive astrophysical scenarios such as Type I X-ray bursts and the nu-p process in neutrino-driven winds after a core-collapse supernova. The newly derived stellar rate is systematically lower than previous estimates, suppressing NiCu cycle recycling in X-ray bursts to below 3% and enhancing nu-p process efficiency throughout the relevant temperature range, potentially extending its effective operation to temperatures as high as T9 = 3.94 (+0.99/-0.85).