Comment on B. Davids et al.; Proton-Decaying States in 22Mg and the Nucleosynthesis of 22Na in Novae

Abstract

B.S. Davids {\em et al.} make the explicit assumption that radiative widths of analog states in \ne22 and \mg22 are equal. We demonstrate that this misapplication of iso-spin symmetry leads to very wrong results. Considerations of elementary nuclear structure suggests that such an assumption can be inaccurate by a large factor (in \mg22), as is evident from a comparison with recent measurements of radiative width in \mg22. Estimates of radiative widths from analog transitions are common but often wrong (e.g. in \mg22) and should not be considered a useful tool in nuclear astrophysics.