Testing Mirror Symmetry*

Certain nuclei of astrophysical interest can be difficult to study experimentally. In such cases, mirror nuclei are sometimes used to estimate quantities such as spectroscopic factors. A study to examine the accuracy of mirror symmetry in attaining these quantities was completed at Florida State University using the Super-Enge Split Pole Spectrograph and associated focal plane detector. Accelerated beams of 3He and deuterons impinged targets of 28Si and 24Mg to study mirror pairs via the 28Si(3He, d)29P, 28Si(d, p)29Si, 24Mg(3He, d)25Al and 24Mg(d, p)25Mg reactions. The resulting light reaction particles were measured in the focal plane detector.  Data were taken at laboratory angles of 10° - 45° in 5° increments. The excitation energy range was up to and beyond the proton and neutron separation energies for each reaction: 0 mev to 8 MeV in all cases. The resultant proton and deuteron spectra were analyzed to find the angular distributions of pairs of mirror states and their relative spectroscopic factors. Preliminary results will be presented and their impact on determining reaction rates discussed.