First measurement of the neutron-emission probability with a surrogate reaction in inverse kinematics at a heavy-ion storage ring

Abstract

Neutron-induced reaction cross sections of short-lived nuclei are imperative to understand the origin of heavy elements in stellar nucleosynthesis and for societal applications, but their measurement is extremely complicated due to the radioactivity of the targets involved. One way of overcoming this issue is to combine surrogate reactions with the unique possibilities offered by heavy-ion storage rings. In this work, we describe the first surrogate-reaction experiment in inverse kinematics, which we successfully conducted at the Experimental Storage Ring (ESR) of the GSI/FAIR facility, using the 208Pb(p,p') reaction as a surrogate for neutron capture on 207Pb. Thanks to the outstanding detection efficiencies possible at the ESR, we were able to measure for the first time the neutron-emission probability as a function of the excitation energy of 208Pb. We have used this probability to select different descriptions of the gamma-ray strength function and nuclear level density, and provide reliable results for the neutron-induced radiative capture cross section of 207Pb at energies for which no experimental data exist.

10 pages and 5 figures

References in corpus (6)

• The r-process of stellar nucleosynthesis: Astrophysics and nuclear physics achievements and mysteries
• Novel Techniques for Constraining Neutron-Capture Rates Relevant for r-Process Heavy-Element Nucleosynthesis
• Approaching the Gamow window with stored ions: Direct measurement of ${}^{124}$Xe(p,$\gamma$) in the ESR storage ring
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• First simultaneous measurement of the gamma-ray and neutron emission probabilities in inverse kinematics at a heavy-ion storage ring

Cited by in corpus (3)

• First simultaneous measurement of the gamma-ray and neutron emission probabilities in inverse kinematics at a heavy-ion storage ring
• Impact of microscopic structural transitions on particle stability and lifetimes of hot nuclei
• Isotopic fission yields of ${}^{240}$Pu as a function of the excitation energy