Decay branching ratios of excited Mg 24

The nuclear reactions C-12(C-12, alpha)Ne-20, C-12(C-12, p)Na-23, and C-12(C-12, n)Mg-23 are the primary reactions in carbon burning, which occurs as part of several stellar processes. The Gamow window, which describes the energy range where most of these reactions take place, is typically around 1.5 MeV in the center-of-mass frame. Direct measurements of the cross sections at this energy are difficult due to the large Coulomb barrier present between the carbon nuclei; however, a successful surrogate measurement can provide the branching ratios between these reactions while avoiding the C-12 + C-12 Coulomb barrier. An experiment was performed using inelastic scattering of 40 MeV alpha particles on Mg-24 as a possible surrogate for the C-12 + C-12 compound nucleus.