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Destruction of the cosmic gamma-ray emitter Al-26 in massive stars: Study of the key Al-26(n, alpha) reaction

Publication at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics |
2021

Abstract

Neutron destruction reactions of the cosmic gamma-ray emitter Al-26 are of importance to determine the amount of Al-26 ejected into our galaxy by supernova explosions and for Al-26 production in asymptotic giant branch stars. We performed a new measurement of the Al-26(n, alpha) reaction up to 160-keV neutron energy at the neutron time-of-flight facilities n_TOF at CERN and GELINA at EC-JRC.

We provide strengths for ten resonances, six of them for the first time. We use our data to calculate astrophysical reactivities for stellar temperatures up to 0.7 GK.

Our results resolve a discrepancy between the two previous direct measurements of this reaction, and indicate higher stellar destruction rates than the most recently recommended reactivity.