Influence of secondary neutrons on alpha-particle induced reaction cross section measurement below the Coulomb barrier

Abstract

The influence of the secondary neutrons on measurements of alpha-particle activation cross sections below the Coulomb barrier was studied for the ${}^{\mathrm{nat}}$Pt($\alpha$,x)${}^{195m}$Pt reaction. We characterized the secondary neutron field by using the particle transport simulation code PHITS, and estimated the ${}^{\mathrm{nat}}$Pt(n,x)${}^{195m}$Pt yields by using the characterized neutron spectra and the ${}^{\mathrm{nat}}$Pt(n,x)${}^{195m}$Pt cross sections in the JENDL-5/A library. We confirmed that the unexpectedly high ${}^{\mathrm{nat}}$Pt($\alpha$,x)${}^{195m}$Pt cross sections below the Coulomb barrier measured by us are explained well by the ${}^{\mathrm{nat}}$Pt(n,x)${}^{195m}$Pt reaction induced by the secondary neutrons. This indicates that the secondary neutron effect is sometimes not negligible even in low energy charged-particle activation cross section measurements. We also studied the influence of the secondary light charged particles by the same approach, and confirmed that their influence is negligible.

arXiv commentSubmitted to European Physical Journal A

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