Measurement of the 24Mg(p,t)22Mg reaction and implications for the 21Na(p,γ)22Mg stellar reaction rate -: art. no. 035803

Levels in Mg-22 between 4 and 7 MeV excitation energy have been populated in a high-resolution study of the Mg-24(p,t)Mg-22 reaction. Two new states have been observed at energies E-x = 5090 and 6323 keV, while two states were observed at 5962 and 6046 keV. The precision in measured excitation energies for several other Mg-22 levels has been improved substantially. In addition, a new state at 8141 keV was observed in Mg-23. Using spin and parity restrictions from the present and previous work, we discuss T = 1 analog state assignments of A = 22 nuclei below 7 MeV excitation energy. The implications for the rate of the stellar reaction Na-21(p, gamma)Mg-22 which takes part in hydrogen burning during nova outbursts are presented.