First direct measurement of the Mg23(p,?)Al24 reaction

The lowest-energy resonance in the {sup 23}Mg(p,gamma){sup 24}Al reaction, which is dominant at classical nova temperatures, has been measured directly for the first time using the DRAGON recoil spectrometer. The experiment used a radioactive {sup 23}Mg beam (mixed within a significantly stronger {sup 23}Na beam) of peak intensity 5x10{sup 7} s{sup -1}, at the ISAC facility at TRIUMF. We extract values of E{sub R}=485.7{sub -1.8}{sup +1.3} keV and omegagamma=38{sub -15}{sup +21} meV from our data (all values in the center-of-mass frame unless otherwise stated). In addition, the experiment prompted a recalculation of the Q value for this reaction based on a revision of the {sup 24}Al mass. The effect on the uncertainties in the quantities of ejected {sup 22}Na and {sup 26}Al from oxygen-neon classical novae is discussed.