A proton capture on the heaviest stable magnesium isotope that makes 27Al, the only stable isotope of aluminium.
26Mg is made both by the decay of 26Al and directly in earlier burning stages. This reaction turns it into 27Al, so it feeds the aluminium seen in stars. In globular clusters some stars show more aluminium and less magnesium than others, and models of these stars need this rate together with the other proton captures of the MgAl cycle.
Facts
- How well known
- The reference resonance is measured precisely; the weaker resonances below it, which matter at the lowest temperatures, are less well constrained.
- Live evaluation
- No live evaluation yet · Evaluations
- Reaction rates
- Explore the rates →
- Q-value · energy released
- 8.271 MeV
- Kind
- Radiative capture
How it was measured
2 measurements, 1990–2010, 1 at LUNAShow the listHide the list
1990
Direct measurement at the surface · low-energy (p,γ) resonances
γ-ray decay schemes of low-energy resonances, including a newly observed 26Mg(p,γ)27Al resonance; measured together with 25Mg(p,γ) and 27Al(p,γ). [1]
2010
LUNA 400 kVLaboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (INFN)
Direct measurement underground · E_cm = 326 keV resonance
Resonance strength measured underground, more precise than earlier values, for use as a normalization reference. [2]
Measurements (EXFOR)
Every dataset EXFOR holds for this reaction, drawn by the energies it covers, against the energies a star uses.
24 datasets in 12 EXFOR entries, 1974–2021 · 3 without an energy range, not drawn
- Lowest energy in EXFOR
- 314 keV
- Limata et al., 2010; Hao Zhang et al., 2021 · ωγ · O1854.007.1
- Distance from the Gamow peak
- 3 Gamow widths above
- E₀ = 118 keV, window 84.7–150 keV
- Rate from energies not in EXFOR
- > 99.99%
- at T₉ = 0.08, smooth estimate · > 99.99% of it lies below the lowest energy in EXFOR
- Gamow window, hatched where no measurement reaches
- 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
| Quantity | Datasets | E_cm range (keV) |
|---|---|---|
| dσ/dΩangular distribution | 7 | 1.86 MeV – 2.94 MeV |
| ωγresonance strength | 10 | 314 keV – 2.44 MeV |
| …other | 4 | 314 keV – 2.42 MeV |
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
The rate at hydrogen-burning temperatures is given by narrow resonances. Limata et al. (2010) measured the strength of the E_cm = 326 keV resonance at LUNA with a precision higher than previously achieved, as a normalization reference for the weaker resonances at lower energies, whose absolute measurement is limited by beam-induced background and target stoichiometry.
Peak energy E0 ± half the 1/e width, centre of mass, from the AME2020 masses.
Evaluations
Compilations that combine the data into a recommended rate.
- —C. Angulo, M. Arnould, M. Rayet et al. (NACRE Collaboration), Nucl. Phys. A 656, 3 (1999) [3]
Open questions
- Direct measurements of the resonances below E_cm = 326 keV, which dominate the rate in hot-bottom burning.
Related reactions
References
- 1.
C. Iliadis et al.
Low-energy resonances in 25Mg(p,γ)26Al, 26Mg(p,γ)27Al and 27Al(p,γ)28Si
Nucl. Phys. A 512, 509 (1990)
- 2.
B. Limata et al. (LUNA Collaboration)
New experimental study of low-energy (p,γ) resonances in magnesium isotopes
Phys. Rev. C 82, 015801 (2010) · 10.1103/PhysRevC.82.015801 · arXiv:1006.5281LUNA
- 3.
C. Angulo, M. Arnould, M. Rayet et al. (NACRE Collaboration)
A compilation of charged-particle induced thermonuclear reaction rates
Nucl. Phys. A 656, 3 (1999)
How to cite this page
J. Skowronski, 26Mg(p,γ)27Al, in Reaction atlas, 2026-10-12, https://jskowron.eu/atlas/26Mg-pg-27Al.
Cite the date you used; it is the last change to this page.
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