${}^{179}$Ta(n,${\hat{I}}^3$) cross-section measurement and the astrophysical origin of ${}^{180}$Ta isotope

Abstract

Tantalum-180m is nature's rarest (quasi) stable isotope and its astrophysical origin is an open question. A possible production site of this isotope is the slow neutron capture process in Asymptotic Giant Branch stars, where it can be produced via neutron capture reactions on unstable ${}^{179}$Ta. We report a new measurement of the ${}^{179}$Ta($n,{\hat{I}}^3$)${}^{180}$Ta cross section at thermal neutron energies via the activation technique. Our results for the thermal and resonance-integral cross-sections are 952 $\pm$ 57 b and 2013 $\pm$ 148 b, respectively. The thermal cross section is in good agreement with the only previous measurement (Phys. Rev C {\bf 60} 025802, 1999), while the resonance integral is different by a factor of $\approx$1.7. While neutron energies in this work are smaller than the energies in a stellar environment, our results may lead to improvements in theoretical predictions of the stellar cross section.