The astrophysical s-process is one of the two main processes forming elements heavier than iron. A key outstanding uncertainty surrounding s-process nucleosynthesis is the neutron flux generated by the 22 Ne(α, n) 25 Mg reaction during the He-core and C-shell burning phases of massive stars. This reaction, as well as the competing 22 Ne(α, γ) 26 Mg reaction, is not well constrained in the important temperature regime from ∼0.2-0.4 GK, owing to uncertainties in the nuclear properties of resonances lying within the Gamow window. To address these uncertainties, we have performed a new measurement of the 22 Ne( 6 Li, d) 26 Mg reaction in inverse kinematics, detecting the outgoing deuterons and 25,26 Mg recoils in coincidence. We have established a new n/γ decay branching ratio of 1.14(26) for the key E x = 11.32 MeV resonance in 26 Mg, which results in a new (α, n) strength for this resonance of 42(11) µeV when combined with the well-established (α, γ) strength of this resonance. We have also determined new upper limits on the α partial widths of neutron-unbound resonances at E x = 11. 112, 11.163, 11.169, and 11.171 MeV. Monte-Carlo calculations of the stellar 22 Ne(α, n) 25 Mg and 22 Ne(α, γ) 26 Mg rates, which incorporate these results, indicate that both rates are substantially lower than previously thought in the temperature range from ∼0.2-0.4 GK.

Single nucleon pickup reactions were performed with a 18:1 MeV=nucleon 14 O beam on a deuterium target. Within the coupled reaction channel framework, the measured cross sections were compared to theoretical predictions and analyzed using both phenomenological and microscopic overlap functions. The missing strength due to correlations does not show significant dependence on the nucleon separation energy asymmetry over a wide range of 37 MeV, in contrast with nucleon removal data analyzed within the sudden-eikonal formalism. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.122503 PACS numbers: 24.50.+g The existence of single-particle-like modes in nuclei, near the Fermi surface, is particularly important because these are at the basis of the nuclear shell model and thus govern the low energy nuclear dynamics. Yet, they result from nontrivial many-body correlations, which affect energy ordering and filling of active orbits. Spectroscopic factors (SFs) are a unique tool to address the question of correlations as they are strictly linked to the notion of shell occupancies and can be probed using direct reaction cross section measurements [1,2]. Information for stable nuclei was formerly provided by the electromagnetic probe (e, e 0 p) [3][4][5]. Even for closed shell nuclei like 16 O or 208 Pb, a cross section reduction by 30%-40% relative to an independent-particle-based model was observed. Different origins are now well established, like short range correlations [1] and couplings to collective modes at high excitation energy [6] or to the continuum [7]. Single nucleon pickup reactions were also used for stable nuclei yielding results consistent with (e, e 0 p) measurements [8,9].For nuclei away from the valley of stability, new approaches have been developed in inverse kinematics at various incident energies, knockout and transfer reactions. From knockout reactions at intermediate energy, a reduction factor R s was deduced as the ratio between the experimental cross section and a theoretical value obtained in a sudden-eikonal approach [10]. A strong dependence was claimed for R s versus the asymmetry (difference in separation energy) ÁS ¼ ðS p À S n Þ with ¼ þ1 (À1) for proton (neutron) removal reactions, with a reduction as high as 70% for large positive ÁS values. This reduction is still not understood and was first accounted for by possible missing correlations in shell-model calculations [10]. Different conclusions were drawn from (i) the possibility of dissipative processes beyond the sudden approximation [11,12], and (ii) transfer reactions at lower incident energies showing no ÁS dependence of R s [13]. From a theoretical point of view, ab initio calculations suggest only a mild dependence of SFs on ÁS [7,14], with equal SFs found for the nucleon removals from 56 Ni [6] despite significant ÁS values (AE 9:5 MeV). Coupled-cluster calculations [7] pointed out a further decrease of proton SFs for isotopes at the neutron dripline, due to coupling to the continuum. This has the substantial effect of enhancing the dependence on...

Excited states in 38,40,42 Si nuclei have been studied via in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy with multinucleon removal reactions. Intense radioactive beams of 40 S and 44 S provided at the new facility of the RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory enabled γ-γ coincidence measurements. A prominent γ line observed with an energy of 742 (8) 23.20.Lv, 27.40.+z, 29.38.Db Shell closures and collectivity are important properties that characterize the atomic nucleus. Interchange of their dominance along isotopic or isotonic chains has attracted much attention. The recent extension of the research frontier to nuclei far away from the valley of stability has revealed several new phenomena for neutronor proton-number dependent nuclear structure. For example, a weakening or even disappearance of shell closures occur in several neutron-rich nuclei at N = 8 [1][2][3] and N = 20 [4][5][6]. A well known example in the case of N = 20 is the so-called 'island of inversion ' [7] located around the neutron-rich nucleus 32 Mg. The low excitation energy of the first 2 + state E x (2 + 1 ) and large E2 transition probability [4][5][6] clearly indicate shell quenching in 32 Mg despite the fact that N = 20 is traditionally a magic number. The next magic number, N = 28, which appears due to the f 7/2 -f 5/2 spin-orbit splitting, has also been explored [8][9][10][11][12][13]. Weakening of the shell closure is seen by the decrease of the 2 With proton number Z = 14 and neutron number N = 28, the nuclear structure of 42 Si is of special interest. A simple but important question that arises is whether the weakening of the N = 28 shell closure continues, causing an enhancement of nuclear collectivity, or if shell stability is restored owing to a possible doubly magic structure. A study on 42 Si was made by a two-proton removal reaction experiment with radioactive 44 S beams at the NSCL [15]. The small two-proton removal cross sec-