Skip to content
Reaction atlas · Neutron sources

Radiative capture · Neutron poisons

25Mg(n,γ)26Mg

: magnesium‑25 + neutron → magnesium‑26 + gamma rayHow to read the notation

On this page

Magnesium-25 captures a neutron. In massive stars it is the strongest neutron poison, and the neutron source makes it itself.

In a massive star almost every neutron comes from 22Ne(α,n)25Mg, so each neutron released leaves behind a magnesium-25 nucleus. Magnesium-25 then competes with the iron seeds for the next neutrons: in stars with about the Sun's composition it is the most important poison of the weak s-process. How readily it captures decides how many neutrons are left for the iron, and so how much copper, gallium, germanium and the other weak-component nuclei the star makes.

Facts

How well known
Measured with neutron beams at CERN and Geel; known to about 15%.
Live evaluation
No live evaluation yet · Evaluations
Reaction rates
Explore the rates →
Q-value · energy released
11.093 MeV
Thermal energy kT
about 26 keV, the energy of a gas at 300 million kelvin
Why no Gamow window
A neutron feels no Coulomb barrier, so there is no Gamow window: the relevant energies are those of the thermal distribution itself, around kT.
Kind
Radiative capture

How it was measured

2 measurements, 2012–2017Show the list
  1. 2012

    n_TOF, CERNCERN

    Neutron beams and time of flight · resolved resonances (neutron energy)

    Capture on 24,25,26Mg with C6D6 detectors, shape analysis together with transmission data; MACS at 30 keV 4.1 ± 0.6 mb for 25Mg. [1]

  2. 2017

    n_TOF, CERNCERN

    Neutron beams and time of flight · resolved resonances, with transmission at GELINA

    Capture at n_TOF and transmission at GELINA on enriched 25Mg: spins and parities of the 26Mg states above the neutron threshold. [2]

Measurements (EXFOR)

Every dataset EXFOR holds for this reaction, drawn by the energies it covers, against the energies a star uses.

23 datasets in 11 EXFOR entries, 1952–2017 · 12 without an energy range, not drawn

massive star, core helium burning, kT = 25.9 keV

Lowest energy in EXFOR
No measurement counts
No dataset here passes the rule for a measurement (“How these numbers are made”).
Maxwellian averages measured
6 sets
kT from 5 keV to 100 keV
Rate from energies not in EXFOR
100%
at kT = 25.9 keV, smooth estimate
10 meV1 eV100 eV10 keV1 MeVEnergy, or kT for a Maxwellian average (keV)kT = 25.9 keVσMACSother
  • Energies that matter at kT = 25.9 keV
  • Outlined bars are shown but not counted (the rule is under “How these numbers are made”).
  • A diamond is a dataset at a single energy. Bars running off the right edge continue to higher energies.
The datasets of the gap map, by quantity
The datasets of the gap map, by quantity
QuantityDatasetsE_cm range (keV)
σcross section124.3 meV – 24.3 meV
MACSMaxwellian average65 keV – 100 keV
…other424.3 meV – 961 keV
How these numbers are made

Lowest measured energy, everywhere in the data explorer: the lowest centre-of-mass energy at which a dataset in EXFOR measures the reaction itself (cross section, S-factor, angular distribution, yield or resonance strength), judged point by point. A point counts when it is a value, not an upper or lower limit, when it lies at least one standard deviation above zero, and when its energy is physical: at least 1 keV for charged particles, and not below the threshold of an endothermic reaction. Not counted: extrapolated, calculated, evaluated or derived values; superseded, deleted or preliminary data; ratios; a single S-factor value, which in EXFOR is a fit result; and indirect methods (Trojan horse, Coulomb dissociation, ANC, surrogate reactions), recognized from EXFOR's method and analysis codes, their text and the title. Frame and unit errors of EXFOR are corrected first, and values the literature shows to be upper limits are read as limits, from a list that gives the evidence for each. Datasets that reach the same energy within 0.5% are all credited, earliest first. Rate from energies not in EXFOR: the share of the rate integrand at that temperature outside the energy ranges the counted datasets cover (from their lowest measured point to their highest), with a constant S-factor (σ ∝ S(E₀)/E · e^−2πη, so the integrand is e^(−E/kT − 2πη)); for a neutron capture, σ ∝ 1/v. Resonances make the real integrand lumpy, so read it as a smooth baseline.

Details

How well known, in detail: Resonance parameters from n_TOF capture and GELINA transmission data give the stellar cross section to about 15% at kT = 30 keV.

The stellar cross section is dominated by a few s- and p-wave resonances in the keV region. At n_TOF the capture yields of the three stable magnesium isotopes were measured with C6D6 detectors and analysed together with transmission data on natural magnesium; the Maxwellian-averaged cross section of 25Mg at kT = 30 keV is 4.1 ± 0.6 mb (Massimi et al. 2012). New capture data from n_TOF and transmission data from GELINA on enriched 25Mg then fixed the spins and parities of the 26Mg states above the neutron threshold, the same states that the neutron source 22Ne(α,n)25Mg populates (Massimi et al. 2017).

Evaluations

Compilations that combine the data into a recommended rate.

  • —Z. Y. Bao et al., At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 76, 70 (2000) [3]
  • —I. Dillmann et al., Nucl. Data Sheets 120, 171 (2014) [4]

Related reactions

References

  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.

    Z. Y. Bao, H. Beer, F. Käppeler, F. Voss, K. Wisshak, T. Rauscher

    Neutron cross sections for nucleosynthesis studies

    At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 76, 70 (2000) · 10.1006/adnd.2000.0838

  4. 4.

    I. Dillmann, T. Szücs, R. Plag, Z. Fülöp, F. Käppeler, A. Mengoni, T. Rauscher

    The Karlsruhe Astrophysical Database of Nucleosynthesis in Stars project – status and prospects

    Nucl. Data Sheets 120, 171 (2014) · arXiv:1408.3688

How to cite this page

J. Skowronski, 25Mg(n,γ)26Mg, in Reaction atlas, 2026-10-12, https://jskowron.eu/atlas/25Mg-ng-26Mg.

Cite the date you used; it is the last change to this page.

Something wrong or missing? Report an error (opens a new issue on GitHub) · Suggest a reaction (opens a new issue on GitHub)