Radiative Capture on Nuclear Isomers: Direct Measurement of the Al26m(p,γ)Si27 Reaction

G. Lotay, A. Lennarz, C. Ruiz, C. Akers, A. A. Chen, G. Christian, D. Connolly, B. Davids, T. Davinson, J. Fallis, D. A. Hutcheon, P. Machule, L. Martin, D. J. Mountford, and A. St. J. Murphy
Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 042701 – Published 27 January 2022

Abstract

We present the first direct measurement of an astrophysical reaction using a radioactive beam of isomeric nuclei. In particular, we have measured the strength of the key 447-keV resonance in the Al26m(p,γ)Si27 reaction to be 432226+146meV and find that this resonance dominates the thermally averaged reaction rate for temperatures between 0.3 and 2.5 GK. This work represents a critical development in resolving one of the longest standing issues in nuclear astrophysics research, relating to the measurement of proton capture reactions on excited quantum levels, and offers unique insight into the destruction of isomeric Al26 in astrophysical plasmas.

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  • Received 7 October 2021
  • Revised 10 December 2021
  • Accepted 24 December 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.042701

© 2022 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Nuclear Physics

Authors & Affiliations

G. Lotay1, A. Lennarz2,3, C. Ruiz2,4, C. Akers2,5,*, A. A. Chen3, G. Christian2, D. Connolly2, B. Davids2,6, T. Davinson7, J. Fallis2, D. A. Hutcheon2, P. Machule2, L. Martin2, D. J. Mountford7, and A. St. J. Murphy7

  • 1Department of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, United Kingdom
  • 2TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada
  • 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1, Canada
  • 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada
  • 5Department of Physics, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom
  • 6Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
  • 7School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, United Kingdom

  • *Present address: Rare Isotope Science Project, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon 305-811, Republic of Korea.

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Vol. 128, Iss. 4 — 28 January 2022

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