Radioactivity Induced by Neutrons: a Thermodynamic Approach to Radiative Capture
arXiv:physics/0508049 · doi:10.1119/1.2198884
Abstract
When Enrico Fermi discovered slow neutrons, he accounted for their great efficiency in inducing radioactivity by merely mentioning the well-known scattering cross-section between neutrons and protons. He did not refer to capture cross-section, at that early stage. It is put forward that a thermodynamic approach to neutron-proton radiative capture then widely debated might underlie his early accounts. Fermi had already met with a similar approach, and repeatedly used it.
14 pages; submitted to "American Journal of Physics"