Neutron spectroscopy of 26Mg states: Constraining the stellar neutron source 22Ne(α,n)25Mg

Massimi, C.; Altstadt, S.; Andrzejewski, J.; Audouin, L.; Barbagallo, M.; Bécares, V.; Bečvář, F.; Belloni, F.; Berthoumieux, E.; Billowes, J.; Bisterzo, S.; Bosnar, D.; Brugger, M.; Calviani, M.; Calviño, F.; Cano-Ott, D.; Carrapiço, C.; Castelluccio, D. M.; Cerutti, F.; Chiaveri, E.; Cosentino, L.; Chin, M.; Clai, G.; Colonna, N.; Cortés, G.; Cortés-Giraldo, M. A.; Cristallo, S.; Diakaki, M.; Domingo-Pardo, C.; Duran, I.; Dressler, R.; Eleftheriadis, C.; Ferrari, A.; Finocchiaro, P.; Fraval, K.; Ganesan, S.; García, A. R.; Giubrone, G.; Gonçalves, I. F.; González-Romero, E.; Griesmayer, E.; Guerrero, C.; Gunsing, F.; Hernández-Prieto, A.; Jenkins, D. G.; Jericha, E.; Kadi, Y.; Käppeler, F.; Karadimos, D.; Kivel, N.; Koehler, P.; Kokkoris, M.; Kopecky, S.; Krtička, M.; Kroll, J.; Lampoudis, C.; Langer, C.; Leal-Cidoncha, E.; Lederer, C.; Leeb, H.; Leong, L. S.; Lo Meo, S.; Losito, R.; Mallick, A.; Manousos, A.; Marganiec, J.; Martínez, T.; Mastinu, P. F.; Mastromarco, M.; Mendoza, E.; Mengoni, A.; Milazzo, P. M.; Mingrone, F.; Mirea, M.; Mondelaers, W.; Musumarra, A.; Paradela, C.; Pavlik, A.; Perkowski, J.; Pignatari, M.; Piersanti, L.; Plompen, A.; Praena, J.; Quesada, J. M.; Rauscher, T.; Reifarth, R.; Riego, A.; Robles, M. S.; Rubbia, C.; Sabaté-Gilarte, M.; Sarmento, R.; Saxena, A.; Schillebeeckx, P.; Schmidt, S.; Schumann, D.; Tagliente, G.; Tain, J. L.; Tarrío, D.; Tassan-Got, L.; Tsinganis, A.; Valenta, S.; Vannini, G.; Van Rijs, I.; Variale, V.; Vaz, P.; Ventura, A.; Vermeulen, M. J.; Vlachoudis, V.; Vlastou, R.; Wallner, A.; Ware, T.; Weigand, M.; Weiß, C.; Wynants, R.; Wright, T.; Žugec, P.

doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2017.02.025

This work reports on accurate, high-resolution measurements of the 25Mg(n,γ)26Mg and 25Mg(n,tot) cross sections in the neutron energy range from thermal to about 300 keV, leading to a significantly improved 25Mg(n,γ)26Mg parametrization. The relevant resonances for n+25Mg were characterized from a combined R-matrix analysis of the experimental data. This resulted in an unambiguous spin/parity assignment of the corresponding excited states in 26Mg. With this information experimental upper limits of the reaction rates for 22Ne(α,n)25Mg and 22Ne(α,γ)26Mg were established, potentially leading to a significantly higher (α,n)/(α,γ) ratio than previously evaluated. The impact of these results has been studied for stellar models in the mass range 2 to 25 M⊙.