Elastic and inelastic scattering of 0.8 GeV polarized protons from Mg24 and Mg26

Data on 800 MeV polarized proton scattering on Mg24 and Mg26 are presented. Angular distributions and analyzing power data have been extracted from fits to 26 peaks in the spectra for Mg24 and 23 peaks in Mg26. Although there are a variety of shapes for the angular distributions, the analyzing power data for all states are positive and similar in magnitude and seem to be consistent with a two-body operator for the excitation with a spin structure much like that for the free proton-nucleon system. Evidence for a level in Mg26 at 8.03 MeV with J>4 is presented. Comparison between the observed angular distribution, coupled channels, and distorted wave Born approximation calculations, and the angular distributions of excited states in neighboring nuclei, support the assignment of J=5- or 6+. Coupled channels calculations for the 0+, 2+, 4+,and6+ members of the ground state rotational bands of Mg24 and Mg26 are compared to the data. Deformation parameters from distorted wave Born approximation calculations are determined for most of the angular distributions.