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Reaction atlas · MgAl cycle

Radiative capture · MgAl cycle

27Al(p,γ)28Si

: aluminium‑27 + proton → silicon‑28 + gamma rayHow to read the notation

On this page

A proton capture that turns aluminium into silicon. It is the way out of the MgAl cycle, in competition with 27Al(p,α)24Mg, which keeps material inside it.

When 27Al captures a proton, the new nucleus either emits an alpha particle and returns to magnesium, or emits a γ-ray and becomes 28Si. This reaction is the second route. It sets how much aluminium the hottest hydrogen-burning stars destroy, how much silicon they make, and how much material escapes the MgAl cycle towards heavier elements in nova explosions.

Facts

How well known
At the lowest temperatures the rate depends on resonances that are too weak to have been observed directly; at nova temperatures it rests on measured resonances.
Live evaluation
No live evaluation yet · Evaluations
Reaction rates
Explore the rates →
Q-value · energy released
11.585 MeV
Gamow window
  • 125 ± 34 keVAGB hot-bottom burning, 80 MK (MgAl cycle)
  • 230 ± 72 keVclassical nova, 0.2 GK (MgAl cycle)
Kind
Radiative capture

How it was measured

2 measurements, 1990–2000Show the list
  1. 1990

    Direct measurement at the surface · low-energy (p,γ) resonances

    γ-ray decay schemes of the low-energy resonances, with new spin-parity and isospin assignments for states of 28Si; measured together with resonances in 25Mg(p,γ) and 26Mg(p,γ). [1]

  2. 2000

    Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, and NCSR Demokritos, Athens

    Direct measurement at the surface · Eₚ = 0.2–1.12 MeV

    Strengths of 26 resonances with two 4π NaI(Tl) summing detectors, and the direct-capture cross section from yields at nine energies between 490 and 1150 keV, combined with earlier data on the non-resonant capture. [2]

Measurements (EXFOR)

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

45 datasets in 25 EXFOR entries, 1953–2017 · 2 without an energy range, not drawn

Temperature
Lowest energy in EXFOR
193 keV
Smulders et al., 1962 · dσ/dΩ · F0659.007
Distance from the Gamow peak
1 Gamow widths above
E₀ = 124 keV, window 90.3–158 keV
Rate from energies not in EXFOR
99%
at T₉ = 0.08, smooth estimate · 99% of it lies below the lowest energy in EXFOR
10 keV100 keV1 MeV10 MeV100 MeVCentre-of-mass energy (keV)E₀ = 124 keVσSσ→Eₓdσ/dΩAyYωγotherlowest in EXFOR 193 keV
  • 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
The datasets of the gap map, by quantity
QuantityDatasetsE_cm range (keV)
σcross section5851 keV – 2.52 MeV
SS-factor1466 keV – 1.11 MeV
σ→Eₓpartial61.97 MeV – 14.1 MeV
dσ/dΩangular distribution17193 keV – 78.6 MeV
Aypolarization120 MeV – 20 MeV
Yyield1482 keV – 2.41 MeV
ωγresonance strength8195 keV – 3.82 MeV
…other4485 keV – 2.31 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

At hydrogen-burning temperatures the rate is a sum of narrow resonances near the proton threshold and of direct capture. The weakest low-energy resonances are known only from upper limits or from transfer reactions, so the low- temperature rate depends on indirect data; at nova temperatures it is dominated by resonances that have been measured directly. Iliadis et al. (1990) measured the γ-ray decay schemes of low-energy resonances and gave new spin-parity and isospin assignments for states of 28Si. Harissopulos et al. (2000) measured the strengths of 26 resonances between Eₚ = 200 and 1120 keV with two 4π NaI(Tl) summing detectors, and obtained the direct-capture cross section from yields at nine beam energies between 490 and 1150 keV.

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]
  • —C. Iliadis et al., Nucl. Phys. A 841, 31 (2010) [4]

Open questions

  • Direct measurements of the lowest-energy resonances, which require an underground laboratory.
  • The competition with 27Al(p,α)24Mg, which decides whether the MgAl cycle closes.

Related reactions

References

  1. 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. 2.

    S. Harissopulos et al.

    The 27Al(p,γ)28Si reaction: direct capture cross-section and resonance strengths at Eₚ = 0.2–1.12 MeV

    Eur. Phys. J. A 9, 479 (2000)

  3. 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)

  4. 4.

How to cite this page

J. Skowronski, 27Al(p,γ)28Si, in Reaction atlas, 2026-10-12, https://jskowron.eu/atlas/27Al-pg-28Si.

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

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