Study of the ²⁰Ne (α, γ)²⁴Mg Reaction in Inverse Kinematics with the St. George Recoil Separator

The St. George recoil mass separator at the University of Notre Dame has been used to study the ²⁰Ne (α, γ)²⁴Mg reaction.

The reaction rate of ²⁰Ne (α, γ)²⁴Mg is important in advanced burning stages in massive stars such as carbon, neon and silicon burning.

Three known resonance strengths have been measured as part of the commissioning experiments of St. George and the characterization of its focal plane detector.

St. George rejects the un-reacted ²⁰Ne beam and sends the ²⁴Mg recoils into a particle identification detection system using the time-of-flight versus residual energy approach.

The measured resonance strengths are in good agreement with the literature values.

A path to study ²⁰Ne (α, γ)²⁴Mg at lower energy is discussed.