The 22 Ne(␣,n) 25 Mg reaction is thought to be the neutron source during the s process in massive and intermediate mass stars as well as a secondary neutron source during the s process in low-mass stars. Therefore, an accurate determination of this rate is important for a better understanding of the origin of nuclides heavier than iron as well as for improving s-process models. Also, the s process produces seed nuclides for a later p process in massive stars, so an accurate value for this rate is important for a better understanding of the p process. Because the lowest observed resonance in direct 22 Ne(␣,n) 25 Mg measurements is considerably above the most important energy range for s-process temperatures, the uncertainty in this rate is dominated by the poorly known properties of states in 26 Mg between this resonance and threshold. Neutron measurements can observe these states with much better sensitivity and determine their parameters ͑except ⌫ ␣ ) much more accurately than direct 22 Ne(␣,n) 25 Mg measurements. I have analyzed previously reported nat Mgϩn total and 25 Mg(n,␥) cross sections to obtain a much improved set of resonance parameters for states in 26 Mg between threshold and the lowest observed 22 Ne(␣,n) 25 Mg resonance, and an improved estimate of the uncertainty in the 22 Ne(␣,n) 25 Mg reaction rate. For example, definitely two, and very likely at least four, of the states in this region have natural parity and hence can contribute to the 22 Ne(␣,n) 25 Mg reaction, but two others definitely have non-natural parity and so can be eliminated from consideration. As a result, a recent evaluation in which it was assumed that only one of these states has natural parity has underestimated the reaction rate uncertainty by at least a factor of 10, whereas evaluations that assumed all these states could contribute probably have overestimated the uncertainty.
We have made new, improved measurements of the Si28-30 (n, gamma) cross sections and have done a resonance analysis of these data including previous total cross sections. Together with the calculated contributions due to direct capture, we calculated the astrophysical (n, gamma) reaction rates and investigated the s-process abundances of the Si isotopes. Measured isotopic anomalies of intermediate and heavy elements in SiC grains from meteorites appear to be attributable to the s-process in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. But the Si isotopic ratios in these grains are substantially different than s-process models predict. Therefore, recent papers have invoked galactic chemical evolution or other effects to explain the Si isotope ratios in these grains. Our new reaction rates are significantly different than previous rates, and s-process calculations using these rates lead to much larger isotopic shifts in Si-30. However, these exploratory calculations demonstrate that even with these substantially different rates the large observed variation in SiC grain from AGB stars cannot be explained by standard s-process models
We have measured the 147 Sm(n,α) cross section from 3 eV to 500 keV and performed an Rmatrix analysis in the resolved region (En< 700 eV) to extract α widths for 104 resonances. We computed strength functions from these resonance parameters and compared them to transmission coefficients calculated using optical model potentials similar to those employed as inputs to statistical model calculations. The statistical model often is used to predict cross sections and astrophysical reaction rates. Comparing resonance parameters rather than cross sections allows more direct tests of potentials used in the model and hence should offer greater insight into possible improvements. In particular, an improved α+nucleus potential is needed for applications in nuclear astrophysics. In addition to providing a more direct test of the α+nucleus potential, the α-width distributions show indications of non-statistical effects.PACS numbers:
We have measured the 26 Al(n,␣ 0 ) 23 Mg and 26 Al(n, p 1 ) 26 Mg* cross sections from thermal energy to approximately 10 keV and 70 keV, respectively. These reactions are thought to be the major mechanisms for the destruction of 26 Al in many nucleosynthesis environments; hence, an accurate determination of their rates is important for understanding the observations of ␥ rays from ''live'' 26 Al in our galaxy and of ''extinct'' 26 Al in meteorites. The astrophysical rate for the 26 Al(n,␣ 0 ) 23 Mg reaction determined from our measurements is in good agreement with the rate determined via inverse measurements. On the other hand, the rate we determined for the 26 Al(n,p 1 ) 26 Mg* reaction is significantly larger than previously reported. In addition, we were able to determine this rate in the temperature range below 0.2 GK which was not covered by previous measurements. This lower temperature range may be important for understanding the production of 26 Al in Red Giant stars. Both of our rates are significantly different than the rates used in most nucleosynthesis calculations. We discuss the impact of our measurements on the nucleosynthesis of 26 Al.
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