Cross sections of the ^(21)Ne(α, n)^(24)Mg and ^(22)Ne(α, n)^(25)Mg reactions at low energies of astrophysical interest

Abstract

The ^(21)Ne(α, n)^(24)Mg reaction has been studied over the energy range E_(c.m.) = 1.4−2.57MeV, by neutron time-of-flight spectroscopy and by the detection of the subsequent γ-ray transitions in ^(24)Mg. The astrophysical cross-section factor S(0) was determined and reaction rates were calculated for temperatures up to 5×10^9°K. In favorable circumstances, this reaction can provide a significant neutron flux for nucleosynthesis. The absolute normalization of the cross sections obtained in our earlier work on the reaction ^(22)Ne(α, n)^(25)Mg has also been verified.

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