Determining neutron-capture cross sections via the surrogate reaction technique

Abstract

Indirect methods play an important role in the determination of nuclear reaction cross sections that are hard to measure directly. In this paper we investigate the feasibility of using the so-called surrogate method to extract neutron-capture cross sections for low energy compound-nuclear reactions in spherical and near-spherical nuclei. We present the surrogate method and develop a statistical nuclear-reaction simulation to explore different approaches to utilize surrogate reaction data. We assess the success of each approach by comparing the extracted cross sections with a predetermined benchmark. In particular, we employ regional systematics of nuclear properties in the 34 <= Z <= 46 region to calculate (n,gamma) cross sections for a series of Zr isotopes, and to simulate a surrogate experiment and the extraction of the desired cross section. We identify one particular approach that may provide very useful estimates of the cross section, and we discuss some of the limitations of the method. General recommendations for future (surrogate) experiments are also given.

17 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. C

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• Nuclear Level Density and the Determination of Thermonuclear Rates for Astrophysics
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• Neutron-induced cross sections -- from raw data to astrophysical rates
• Cross sections for neutron capture from surrogate measurements: An examination of Weisskopf-Ewing and ratio approximations
• Verification of the Surrogate Ratio Method
• A dynamical model of surrogate reactions
• Spin-dependent observables in surrogate reactions
• Cross sections for neutron-induced reactions from surrogate data: revisiting the Weisskopf-Ewing approximation for $(n,n^{\prime })$ and $(n,2n)$ reactions