Benchmarking the extraction of statistical neutron capture cross sections on short-lived nuclei for applications using the beta-Oslo method

摘要

Numerous scientific fields including astrophysics, nuclear power, and nuclear forensics require a knowledge of basic nuclear properties for large numbers of short-lived, radioactive isotopes far removed from stable nuclei. Neutron-capture cross sections are one such piece of nuclear data where direct measurements are not possible and theoretical predictions can vary by orders of magnitude. A recently developed indirect technique for inferring neutron capture rates, the beta-Oslo method, has been introduced but not compared against a known, directly measured neutron capture cross section. To provide this benchmark, two indirect methods based on beta decay and charged-particle reactions were used to extract the nuclear level density and gamma-ray strength function of Ti-51. The nuclear level density and gamma-ray strength function from the two data sets were found to be equivalent and were used to extract the neutron capture cross section of Ti-50 which agrees with previous direct measurements at high neutron energies. The results demonstrate the validity of the beta-Oslo method for extracting neutron capture cross sections of short-lived nuclei and provide a sufficiently small uncertainty to be used in various applications.