Beta decay of the proton-rich nuclei 102Sn and 104Sn

The β decays of ¹⁰²Sn and ¹⁰⁴Sn were studied by using high-resolution germanium detectors as well as a Total Absorption Spectrometer (TAS). For ¹⁰⁴Sn, with three new β-delayed γ-rays identified, the total Gamow-Teller strength (B_GT) value of 2.7(3) was obtained. For ¹⁰²Sn, the γ-γ coincidence data were collected for the first time, allowing us to considerably extend the decay scheme. This scheme was used to unfold the TAS data and to deduce a B_GT value of 4.2(8) for this decay. This result is compared to shell model predictions, yielding a hindrance factor of 3.6(7) in agreement with those obtained previously for ⁹⁸Cd and ¹⁰⁰In. Together with the latter two, ¹⁰²Sn completes the triplet of Z ⩽ 50, N ≥ 50 nuclei with two proton holes, one proton hole and one neutron particle, and two neutron particles with respect to the doubly magic ¹⁰⁰Sn core.     

Cross sections for the (n,p) and (n,n′) reactions on Pd,Cd and Os

The cross sections for the ¹⁰⁵Pd(n, p)¹⁰⁵Rh, ¹¹¹Cd(n, n′)^111mCd, ¹¹²Cd(n, p)¹¹²Ag and ¹⁹⁰Os(n, n′)^190mOs reactions were measured by the activation method in the neutron energy range from 13 to 17 MeV. The results of the measurements are compared with the predictions of the compound and the precompound emission models.     

A direct measurement of the total proton decay width of an isobaric analog state

Differential cross sections for the ²⁰⁸Pb (p, n) reaction populating the isobaric analog state (IAS) of the ²⁰⁸Pb ground state in ²⁰⁸Bi have been measured at a proton bombarding energy of 30.5 MeV. The experimental technique utilized the proton (p?) decay of the IAS to obtain neutron time-of-flight spectra. When these differential cross sections are compared to those obtained for the same reaction at 30.5 MeV using the pulsed-beam technique to obtain neutron time-of-flight spectra, the percentage of the IAS decay through p? channels is obtained. This comparison indicates that the p? decay of the IAS to the first three states of ²⁰⁷Pb accounts for almost all of the IAS width (0.97±0.28).     

Reaction spectroscopy with even tin isotopes

The two-particle transfer reactions ^{116, 118}Sn(t, p) and the inelastic scattering of 55 MeV protons from ¹¹⁶Sn and 16 MeV protons from ^{116, 118, 120}Sn are analysed for various transitions to collective and non-collective states in the final nucleus using DWBA. Form factors have been calculated with wave functions containing two-quasiparticle excitations of neutrons in open and closed shells as well as 1p-1h transitions from closed proton shells. In the inelastic scattering, generally a Serber-type Gaussian effective interaction was inserted. The results are compared with those obtained on the assumption of two-quasiparticle excitations in a restricted configuration space only. For both types of reaction, reasonable agreement with experimental data is obtained for the angular distribution. In the (t, p) reaction the measured and calculated relative cross sections agree within a factor of two. For the inelastic scattering, apart from relative cross sections the mass dependence of the collective excitations and the influence of four-quasiparticle excitations have been examined. The transition to the collective 2⁺ level in ¹¹⁶Sn was calculated with the proton component of the wave function corrected according to electromagnetic measurements. From inelastic scattering it follows that the transitions to negative-parity states especially are not described satisfactorily by the wave functions used. Cross sections for unobserved higher excited levels have been estimated.     

Probing the structure of exotic nuclei by transfer reactions

Low energy single nucleon transfer reactions are proposed as a tool to investigate the structure of nuclei far off stability. Experimental concepts and conditions are discussed, in particular high resolution γ-ray spectroscopy after single nucleon pickup reactions. Nuclear structure is described by Skyrme Hartree-Fock calculations including pairing. As representative examples, binding energies, radii and wave functions for Mg and Sn isotopes are calculated. In the neutron deficient Mg isotopes a proton skin is found. At the neutron driplines the Mg and Sn isotopes develop extended neutron skins. The nuclear structure results are used in DWBA and EFR-DWBA transfer calculations. Single nucleon transfer reactions of ^32,36Mg and exotic Sn beams on targets ranging from ²H to ²⁴Mg in inverse kinematics are explored. The one-nucleon transfer cross sections decrease strongly for high-Z targets. An impact parameter analysis shows that the transfer process is selective on the tails of the wave functions. The largest cross sections are obtained for ²H and ⁹Be targets at incident energies of E _lab = 2-5 MeV/u. The energy-momentum dependence is closely related to the special properties of wave functions of weakly bound states. Two-neutron (p,t) stripping reactions are studied for a ⁶He projectile. A strong competition of sequential and direct processes is found at low energies. Received: 1 October 1997 / Revised version: 25 November 1997     

Measurement of double-differential (n,xp) cross sections of natural nickel in 14.6 MeV neutron energy

The energy spectra and angular distributions of proton emission in the reaction of ^natNi(n,xp) at neutron energy 14.6 MeV have been measured by the USTC multitelescope system. The double-differential cross sections of 16 reaction angles from 25° to 164.5° have been obtained in this measurement. The statistical error can be reduced because of the thicktarget used. The angular distributions show a slightly energy-dependent forward-backward asymmetry. The angle-integrated proton spectrum is compared with ENDF/B-VI evaluation and Grimes' result. The total p-emission cross section is in fair agreement with prediction and evaluation.     

A systematic study of (n,d), (n,n' p) and (n,pn) reactions at 14.7 MeV

Cross sections for [(n, d) + (n, n′p) + (n, pn)] reactions induced by 14.7 ± 0.3 MeV neutrons on ⁴⁴Ca, ⁴⁹Ti, ⁵⁰Cr, ^{67, 68}Zn, ⁹²Zr and ^{97, 98}Mo have been measured by the activation technique using enriched isotopes as target materials, modern radiochemical separations and high-resolution counting methods. A brief summary of the literature data and our own earlier measurements is given. Our activation data are generally in agreement with those deduced from emitted charged particle characterisation. Some systematic trends in the activation cross-section data were analysed. Similar to other (n, charged particle) reactions, the [(n, d) + (n, n′p) + (n, pn)] reaction cross section decreases as a function of (N?Z)/A; the data, however, fall on two curves, one for nuclei with neutron separation energies (S_n higher than the proton separation energies (S_p) and the other for nuclei with S_n < S_p. For nuclei with S_n ? S_p the (n, n′p) process is very important. Detailed Hauser-Feshbach calculations show that in general contributions of statistical processes to the (n, d) reaction cross section are very small.     

Effect of inelastic scattering processes on (p,t) reactions exciting the first 2+ states in Te,Sn and Cd isotopes

Differential cross sections of (p, t) reactions exciting the 2⁺₁ states in Te (A = 128 ? 120), Sn (116 and 114) and Cd (114 and 112) have been measured at E_p = 52 MeV. The observed differences of the angular distributions are interpreted by taking into account the two-step processes through inelastic scattering channels.     

Neutron elastic scattering from 116,118,120,122,124Sn

Accurate measurements of neutron differential elastic cross sections have been obtained from even isotopes of Sn. Data are presented for the elastic scattering of 11 MeV neutrons from ^{116, 118, 120, 122, 124}Sn, the elastic scattering for 24 MeV neutrons from ^{116, 118, 124}Sn and the neutron total cross section from ^{118, 120, 122, 124}Sn in the energy ranges 5.0–10.6 MeV and 20.0–26.0 MeV. The elastic scattering data are analyzed in terms of an empirical optical-model potential. The obtained optical-potential parameters are analyzed in terms of energy and isospin dependence and compared with those obtained from proton elastic scattering on even Sn isotopes.     

Charge-changing cross sections of the neutron-rich isotopes8,9,11Li

Total charge-changing cross sections have been measured for⁸Li on C and Pb targets, for⁹Li on C, Al, Cu, Sn and Pb targets, as well as for¹¹Li on C, Sn and Pb targets at about 80 MeV/nucleon. These data are compared to measured total reaction cross sections and Glauber-type calculations using Hartree-Fock density distributions. These comparisons allow to draw conclusions on the proton density distribution of the neutronrich lithium isotopes. The results show that even for the most exotic nucleus¹¹Li the proton distribution is only very weakly influenced by the long tail in the neutron density distribution already established in several experiments.     

26g,mAl production cross sections from the 23Na(α, n)26Al reaction

Cross sections have been determined for the production of ^{26g, m}Al from the ²³Na(α, n) reaction. Total ²⁶Al production cross sections were obtained from measurements of the thick-target neutron yield. ^26mAl cross sections were measured using an activation technique. ^26gAl cross sections were deduced by subtracting the ^26mAl cross sections from the total (α, n) cross sections. The principle of detailed balance has been applied to the low-energy data to obtain cross sections for the astrophysically interesting ^26gAl(n, α₀)²³Na reaction. These results are compared with the results of Hauser-Feshbach calculations.     

An empirical fit to estimated neutron emission cross sections from proton induced reactions

Neutron emission cross section for various elements from⁹Be to²⁰⁹Bi have been calculated using the hybrid model code ALICE-91 for proton induced reactions in the energy range 25 MeV to 105 Me V. An empirical expression relating neutron emission cross section to target mass number and incident proton energy has been obtained. The simple expression reduces the computation time significantly. The trend in the variation of neutron emission cross sections with respect to the target mass number and incident proton energy has been discussed within the framework of the model used.     

Neutron inelastic scattering to octupole states in single-closed-shell nuclei

Differential cross sections for the excitation of the first octupole-vibrational state in the closed- neutron-shell nuclides ⁸⁸Sr and ⁹⁰Zr and in the closed-proton shell-nuclei ^{116, 118, 120, 124}Sn by 11 MeV neutrons are presented. The distorted-wave Born approximation is used to obtain deformation lengths, σ(3^?), for each state. Results are compared with earlier measurements of inelastic proton scattering to the same states. Although limited resolution in the neutron time- of-flight spectrometer complicates the interpretation of the Sn data, the overall conclusion that σ_nn′(3^?) ≈ σ_pp′(3^?) is supported by all of the measurements.     

Proton transitions in22Na(n,p)22Ne reaction

The nuclear reactions induced by thermal and 2 keV neutrons on²²Na radioactive nucleus were studied. For the thermal neutrons a more accurate value of²²Na (n,p)²²Ne reaction cross section was obtained. A weak proton transition to the²²Ne ground state was observed. The upper limits of cross sections for thermal neutron induced (n,∞) reaction and (n, p) reaction with 2 keV neut·rons are given.     

Formation of close-to-target products in reactions induced by <Superscript>12</Superscript>C ions on tin isotopes at the energy of 2.2 GeV per nucleon

Cross sections for charge-exchange reactions induced by the interaction between ¹²C ions of energy E_{¹² C} = 2.2E_{^{12} C} = 2.2 GeV per nucleon and tin targets enriched in the isotopes ^118,120,124Sn were measured by the induced-activity method. The cross sections for products whose charge numbers were in excess of the target charge number (Sb and Te) were determined. The shape of the isotope distribution of Sb products was indicative of the evaporative character of neutron emission in the formation of final-state products. The dependence of cross sections for charge-exchange reactions on the nucleonic composition of the target was considered. The contribution of electromagnetic excitation to the cross section for the reaction ¹²⁴Sn(¹²C, x)¹²⁴Sn was estimated.     

1 states and the 1f-2p shell model

The observed 1⁺ cross sections from (³He, p) reactions on even Ca, Ti, Cr and Fe targets are analyzed in terms of an approximate sum rule. It is shown that the summed 1⁺ cross sections in a qualitative way depend on the proton and neutron number of the target as predicted from the shell model.     

The nuclear fusion in the muonic molecule ddμ and the charge symmetry violation in the low energy dd interaction

The rate λ_f = 1.0 × 10⁹ s^?1 of the nuclear fusion in the ddμ molecule is calculated. It is shown that the ratio of the neutron to the proton yield equals the ratio of the p-wave cross sections of the d(d,n)³ He and d(d,p)t reactions near the dd threshold.     

Al production cross sections from the Na(α, n)Al reaction

Cross sections have been determined for the production of ^{26g, m}Al from the ²³Na(α, n) reaction. Total ²⁶Al production cross sections were obtained from measurements of the thick-target neutron yield. ^26mAl cross sections were measured using an activation technique. ^26gAl cross sections were deduced by subtracting the ^26mAl cross sections from the total (α, n) cross sections. The principle of detailed balance has been applied to the low-energy data to obtain cross sections for the astrophysically interesting ^26gAl(n, α₀)²³Na reaction. These results are compared with the results of Hauser-Feshbach calculations.     

H + reactions from 1.96 to 6.20 MeV

The differential cross sections of ²H(d, d)²H, ²H(d, ³He)n, ²H(d, p)³H and ²H(d, t)p have been measured in a gas scattering chamber at ten bombarding energies between 2.0 and 6.2 MeV with accuracies ranging from ±1.7 % to ±3.4 %. The differential cross section of ²H(d, n)³He has been measured at forward angles to an accuracy of ±2.5 % at the same energies using a time-of-flight detection system. The neutron detection efficiency was calibrated from the ²H(d, ³He)n cross sections, so the neutron production cross sections reported here do not depend on any previous neutron measurements. The ²H(d, ³He)n cross sections have been converted into ²H(d, n) ³He cross sections and Legendre polynomial fits are given for the complete angular distributions of ²H(d, n)³He.