Study of the ^{22}Mg Waiting Point Relevant for X-Ray Burst Nucleosynthesis via the ^{22}Mg(α,p)^{25}Al Reaction

H Jayatissa; M L Avila; K E Rehm; P Mohr; Z Meisel; J Chen; C R Hoffman; J Liang; C Müller-Gatermann; D Neto; W J Ong; A Psaltis; D Santiago-Gonzalez; T L Tang; C Ugalde; G Wilson

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.112701

Study of the ^{22}Mg Waiting Point Relevant for X-Ray Burst Nucleosynthesis via the ^{22}Mg(α,p)^{25}Al Reaction

Phys Rev Lett. 2023 Sep 15;131(11):112701. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.112701.

Authors

H Jayatissa¹, M L Avila¹, K E Rehm¹, P Mohr², Z Meisel³, J Chen¹, C R Hoffman¹, J Liang⁴, C Müller-Gatermann¹, D Neto⁵, W J Ong⁶, A Psaltis⁷, D Santiago-Gonzalez¹, T L Tang¹, C Ugalde⁵, G Wilson⁸

Affiliations

¹ Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois 60439, USA.
² Institute for Nuclear Research (Atomki), P.O. Box 51, Debrecen H-4001, Hungary.
³ Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701, USA.
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1, Canada.
⁵ Department of Physics, University of Illinois Chicago, 845 W. Taylor St., Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA.
⁶ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Ave, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
⁷ Institut für Kernphysik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt D-64289, Germany.
⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA.

PMID: 37774292
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.112701

Abstract

The ^{22}Mg(α,p)^{25}Al reaction rate has been identified as a major source of uncertainty for understanding the nucleosynthesis flow in Type-I x-ray bursts. We report a direct measurement of the energy- and angle-integrated cross sections of this reaction in a 3.3-6.9 MeV center-of-mass energy range using the MUlti-Sampling Ionization Chamber (MUSIC). The new ^{22}Mg(α,p)^{25}Al reaction rate is a factor of ∼4 higher than the previous direct measurement of this reaction within temperatures relevant for x-ray bursts, resulting in the ^{22}Mg waiting point of x-ray burst nucleosynthesis flow to be significantly bypassed via the (α,p) reaction.