Recent results from the carbon fusion project at Notre Dame

The carbon fusion project at Notre Dame is aimed towards measuring the {sup 12}C+{sup 12}C fusion cross section and its decay branches relevant to astrophysics down to the lowest possible energies. To complement this approach, we are also exploring new techniques for providing more reliable extrapolations of the cross sections in the energy ranges where experimental data are unavailable. In this paper, we report two recent results: 1) an upper limit for the {sup 12}C+{sup 12}C fusion cross section, and 2) a new measurement of {sup 12}C({sup 12}C,n) along with an improved extrapolation technique based on the mirror reaction channel, {sup 12}C({sup 12}C,p). The outlook for astrophysical heavy-ion fusion studies at Notre Dame is also discussed.