Neutron scattering from 26Mg

Elastic and inelastic cross sections have been measured for 24 MeV neutrons incident on ²⁶Mg using the time-of-flight technique. These cross sections and existing proton data were analyzed in terms of a Lane-consistent optical potential. Distorted-wave and coupled-channel calculations are presented. Deformation parameters for the first 2⁺ state (1.81 MeV) and the second 2⁺ state (2.94 MeV) derived from both the (n, n') and (p, p') data are used to obtain the ratio of neutron and proton transition matrix elements M_n(E2) and M_p(E2) for these states. Comparison of results for $\text{M}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>n</mtext>}}\text{(}\text{E}\text{2)}\text{M}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>p</mtext>}}\text{(}\text{E}\text{2)}$ with those obtained from pion work, from electromagnetic (EM) rates and theoretical evaluations are presented.