Inverse Kinematic Study of the (26g)Al(d,p)(27)Al Reaction and Implications for Destruction of (26)Al in Wolf-Rayet and Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars.

ABSTRACT

In Wolf-Rayet and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, the (26g)Al(p,γ)(27)Si reaction is expected to govern the destruction of the cosmic γ-ray emitting nucleus (26)Al. The rate of this reaction, however, is highly uncertain due to the unknown properties of key resonances in the temperature regime of hydrogen burning. We present a high-resolution inverse kinematic study of the (26g)Al(d,p)(27)Al reaction as a method for constraining the strengths of key astrophysical resonances in the (26g)Al(p,γ)(27)Si reaction. In particular, the results indicate that the resonance at E(r)=127 keV in (27)Si determines the entire (26g)Al(p,γ)(27)Si reaction rate over almost the complete temperature range of Wolf-Rayet stars and AGB stars.