Publications
Novel Method to Study Neutron Capture of U-235 and U-238 Simultaneously at keV Energies
- Author(s)
- A. Wallner, T. Belgya, M. Bichler, K. Buczak, I. Dillmann, F. Kaeppeler, C. Lederer, A. Mengoni, F. Quinto, P. Steier, L. Szentmiklosi
- Abstract
The neutron capture cross sections of the main uranium isotopes, U235 and U238,
were measured simultaneously for keV energies, for the first time by
combining activation technique and atom counting of the reaction
products using accelerator mass spectrometry. New data, with a precision
of 3%–5%, were obtained from mg-sized natural uranium samples for
neutron energies with an equivalent Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of kT∼25 keV and for a broad energy distribution peaking at 426 keV. The cross-section ratio of U235(n,γ)/U238(n,γ) can be deduced in accelerator mass spectrometry directly from the atom ratio of the reaction products U236/U239,
independent of any fluence normalization. Our results confirm the
values at the lower band of existing data. They serve as important
anchor points to resolve present discrepancies in nuclear data libraries
as well as for the normalization of cross-section data used in the
nuclear astrophysics community for s-process studies.
- Organisation(s)
- Isotope Physics
- External organisation(s)
- Technische Universität Wien, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, University of British Columbia (UBC), Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Australian National University
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Volume
- 112
- No. of pages
- 6
- ISSN
- 0031-9007
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.192501
- Publication date
- 05-2014
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103014 Nuclear physics, 103004 Astrophysics
- Keywords
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/0780154c-6774-4e6a-85bf-27e3db9cc9c2