Speaker
Daid Kahl
Description
Astrophysical observables that are directly linked to nuclear physics inputs provide critical and stringent constraints on nucleosynthetic models. As $^{26}$Al was the first specific radioactivity observed in the Galaxy, its origin has fascinated the nuclear astrophysics community for nearly forty years. Despite extensive research, the precise origins of $^{26}$Al remain elusive. At present, the sum of all putative stellar contributions generally overestimates the $^{26}$Al mass in the interstellar medium. Among the many reactions that influence the yield of $^{26}$Al, radiative proton capture on its isomer $^{26m}$Al is one of the least constrained by experimental data. To this end, we developed a $^{26}$Al isomeric beam and performed proton elastic scattering to search for low-spin states in $^{27}$Si. The experimental method and the preliminary results of this on-going study will be presented.
