$^{26}$Al Beam Production and its Application to Nuclear Astrophysics

Presumably produced during the supernova stage of stellar evolution, $^{26}$Al offers unique opportunities to better understand the processes of nucleosynthesis occurring in pre-SN phases of stellar evolution and within the Galactic disk. When decaying to $^{26}$Mg, $^{26}$Al emits a unique 1.8MeV gamma ray, detectable by satellite telescopes. Understanding the production and destruction pathways of $^{26}$Al is a key portion of understanding the on-going stellar nucleosynthesis. In order to measure the cross-section of $^{26}$Al(n, p)$^{26}$Mg at the astrophysical relevant energies, an indirect method, called the Trojan Horse Method(THM), is utilized. The THM allows the study of neutron induced reactions at astrophysical energies via the d break-up. This method requires the three-body cross section for the $^{26}$Al(d, p $^{26}$Mg)H reaction to be measured at a beam of 60 MeV. The $^{26}$Al secondary beam is produced by MARS at Cyclotron Institute of Texas A{\&}M University from a primary $^{26}$Mg beam (E$\approx $16MeV/u) impinging on a H$_{2 }$target, and was then degraded to 2.25MeV/u energy by means of a Be foil. The results will be shown and discussed in detail together with the features of the obtained intense and pure beam of $^{26}$Al (0.5cm x 0.5cm beamspot, $>$97{\%} pure, 10$^{6}$ pps). This later will be used for many applications in nuclear astrophysics using both direct and indirect methods.