Abstract
The heavy-ion, fusion-evaporation reaction C12(O16,n) was used to identify γ-decay transitions from excited states in Si27 above the proton threshold. The precise level energy measurements, Jπ assignments, and lifetime measurements of astrophysically important Al26m+p resonances have allowed an evaluation of the Al26m(p,γ)Si27 reaction rate. An lp=0 resonance has been newly identified at a center-of-mass energy in the Al26m+p system of 146.3(3) keV and is expected to dominate the rate for low stellar temperatures. In addition, an lp=1 resonance has been identified at 378.3(30) keV and is likely to dominate the rate at high astrophysical temperatures, such as those found in oxygen-neon novae and core-collapse supernovae. © 2009 The American Physical Society.