Speaker
Description
The reaction 22Ne(α,γ)26Mg is associated with several open questions in nuclear astrophysics and plays a crucial role in constraining stellar models. Among other scenarios, it plays a critical role in the creation of elements heavier than iron. A reliable evaluation of the stellar reaction rate at the energy of astrophysical interest must consider all the possible excited states of the compound nucleus 26Mg in order to reliably predict the reaction cross section, and hence the stellar rate. Due to very low stellar energies and therefore very low cross sections, direct experiments in the laboratory have so far only provided highly uncertain data.
This poster focuses on a forthcoming indirect measurement of the 22Ne(α,γ)26Mg reaction, aiming at providing information on the excited states of 26Mg in the astrophysically important energy range, such as spectroscopic factors and decay widths.
The 26Mg states will be selectively populated via the alpha-transfer reaction in inverse kinematics 7Li(22Ne, t)26Mg. The combined use of the recoil mass separator EMMA coupled with the highly segmented tracking gamma-ray spectrometer TIGRESS and silicon detectors allows for the reconstruction of the outgoing kinematics and extraction of the properties of the populated excited level of 26Mg.
The measurements will be performed at the TRIUMF laboratory in Vancouver, Canada and represent a first step for the evaluation of the cross-section measurements for 22Ne(α,γ)26Mg, followed by a direct measurement in the of reduced background environment provided by the Bellotti Ion Beam Facility at LNGS, Italy.