Type-I X-ray burst (XRB) light curves are sensitive to the model's nuclear input and consequently affects the model-observation comparisons. 22Mg(α,p)25Al is among the most important reactions which directly impact the XRB light curve. We report the first direct measurement of 22Mg(α,p)25Al using the Active Target Time Projection Chamber. XRB light curve model-observation comparison for the source GS1826−24 using new reaction rate implies a less-compact neutron star than previously inferred. Additionally, our result removes an important uncertainty in XRB model calculations that previously hindered extraction of the neutron star compactness.
@article{arxiv.2001.06087,
title = {First direct measurement of $^{22}$Mg($\alpha$,p)$^{25}$Al and implications for X-ray burst model-observation comparisons},
author = {J. S. Randhawa and Y. Ayyad and W. Mittig and Z. Meisel and T. Ahn and S. Aguilar and H. Alvarez-Pol and D. W. Bardayan and D. Bazin and S. Beceiro-Novo and L. Carpenter and M. Cortesi and D. Cortina-Gil and D. Blankstein and P. Gastis and M. Hall and S. Henderson and J. J. Kolata and T. Mijatovic and F. Ndayisabye and P. O Malley and J. Pereira and A. Pierre and H. Robert and C. Santamaria and H. Schatz and J. Smith and N. Watwood and J. C. Zamora},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2001.06087},
year = {2020}
}