Statistical neutron capture in the limit of low nuclear level density

J. R. Winkelbauer, S. M. Mosby, A. Couture, H. Y. Lee, J. L. Ullmann, T. Kawano, G. Rusev, M. Jandel, and M. Krtička
Phys. Rev. C 99, 024318 – Published 25 February 2019

Abstract

A major barrier in the study of neutron-induced nuclear reactions is the impossibility of direct measurements with short-lived radioactive isotopes. For these exotic nuclei, theoretical inputs such as the photon strength function (PSF) are poorly constrained. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments (DANCE) provides direct measurements of γ-ray cascades following neutron capture reactions on stable or long-lived radioactive nuclei. While Hauser-Feshbach calculations can provide reasonable predictions for neutron capture on heavy nuclei, their application to neutron-rich light nuclei with low nuclear level densities and low neutron separation energies is questionable. In this paper, we report on the γ-ray spectra from individual neutron resonances from the Zr96(n,γ) reaction, with an emphasis on the sensitivity of of the γ-ray spectra to different PSF models. The comparison of the measured γ-ray spectra with predicted spectra does not support the addition of a low-energy enhancement of the size reported in many charged-particle reaction measurements, but the sensitivity of the γ-ray spectra to different PSF models is weak.

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  • Received 11 September 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.99.024318

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Nuclear Physics

Authors & Affiliations

J. R. Winkelbauer, S. M. Mosby, A. Couture, H. Y. Lee, J. L. Ullmann, T. Kawano, G. Rusev, and M. Jandel*

  • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

M. Krtička

  • Charles University in Prague, CZ-180 00 Prague 8, Czech Republic

  • *Present address: Department of Physics and Applied Physics, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854, USA.

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Vol. 99, Iss. 2 — February 2019

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