Low energy gamma rays from thermal neutron capture

The beam tubeP2 of the 4 MW FRM pool reactor was used as the neutron source for this nuclear spectroscopy study. An 8.5 and 13.5 cm lithium drifted germanium detector were used as gamma ray detector to measure the low energy prompt photon emissions from thermal neutron capture in 18 elements (12 rare earth elements) having aσ/A value greater than 0.1. The energy region was from 50–500 keV. Energy and intensity of the gamma ray lines are given.     

Gamma rays from resonance neutron capture in 115In

Gamma rays in the range 5.4–6.7 MeV have been studied for 31 s-wave neutron resonances of ¹¹⁵In, selected by time of flight in the range 3–430 eV. In a subsidiary experiment, spin J = 5 has been assigned to 17 and J = 4 to 14 resonances by measuring intensity variations of some strong low-energy transitions. The reduced widths averaged over all initial states of the same spin have been estimated for 41 primary transitions: these values have provided information on the spin and parity of the corresponding ¹¹⁶In final states. Overall mean values of E1 and M1 radiative strength have been calculated. The width distribution has been fitted with a χ² function with ν = 1.10^+0.27_?0.09 degrees of freedom for M1 and ν = 1.42 ^{+ 0.014}_?0.08 for E1 radiation. An estimate of the spin cut-off parameter σ = 3.6_?0.4^{+ 0.8} has been derived. A non-statistical effect already evidenced in previous measurements has been confirmed, consisting of a strong modulation of the radiative strength against resonance energy, correlated also with the local neutron strength function. In addition, it has now been shown that this structure is due to E1 radiation only.     

On the intensities ofK X rays following thermal neutron capture

Through the measurement of the absolute intensities of theK _α andK _β X rays following slow neutron capture in¹⁵⁵Gd,¹⁷⁶Lu and¹⁹⁹Hg and their comparison with the intensities of theK-conversion electron transitions from the same reaction it is shown that theK X rays are caused only by internal conversion.     

Gamma rays from thermal-neutron capture in natural and K enriched potassium

Gamma rays following thermal-neutron capture in natural and in ³⁹K enriched potassium have been investigated with a Ge(Li) and a Ge(Li)-NaI spectrometer. In the ³⁹K(n,γ)⁴⁰K reaction 222 γ-rays were found, of which 187 could be fitted into the level scheme of ⁴⁰K. Fifteen γ-rays could be ascribed to the ⁴¹K(n, γ)⁴²K reaction. Excitation energies of 54 levels in ⁴⁰K and of 9 levels in ⁴²K have been determined with 0.2−1.0 keV errors. The Q-values of the ³⁹K(n, γ)⁴⁰K and ⁴¹K(n, γ)⁴²K reactions are Q = 7799.7 ±0.8 keV and 7533.9±1.2 keV, respectively.     

Resonance neutron capture gamma rays in 177Hf

Primary capture γ-rays have been studied for 38 ¹⁷⁷Hf neutron resonances with energies in the range 1–165 eV. Intensities were measured for 29 transitions ending at states with an excitation energy in ¹⁷⁸Hf up to 2050 keV. The analysis was facilitated by the previous knowledge of the spin and parity of all neutron resonances and of most low-lying states. For nine final levels, which had not previously been seen, information on J and π was deduced from the corresponding average intensities. The distribution of partial widths was fitted with a χ² function with ν = 1.38_?0.13^+0.18 degrees of freedom for E1 radiation and ν = 1.5_?0.40^+0.60 for M1 radiation. The average El reduced photon strength was found to be $\text{S}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>El</mtext>}}\text{= 〈Γ}{}_{\mathrm{\gamma itij}}\text{/DE}{}_{\mathrm{\gamma }}{}^5\text{〉A}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>?8</mtext><mtext>3</mtext>}}\text{= (4.8 ± 1.0) × 10}{}^{\mathrm{?15}}\text{MeV}{}^{\mathrm{?5}}$ and the ratio between El and Ml intensities equal to 5.5 ± 1.4. A comparison of this value for the El strength with those reported for other nuclei with A$\text{\$}\text{?}$= 100 showed that the intensities follow the A-dependence predicted by the Brink-Axel model. A non-statistical effect was observed, consisting of an enhancement of El transition probalilities to K = 2, 3 final states as compared to K = 0, 4 states.     

Radiative thermal neutron capture by natural sulfur

A high precision study of the gamma ray spectrum following neutron capture by a target of natural sulfur is reported. The energy precision obtained has permitted construction of decay schemes for³³S and³⁵S. In the case of the former isotope a total of 22 levels have been identified while for the latter and much weaker reaction 7 states have been observed. While some transitions attributable to capture by³³S are observed, their weakness prohibited detailed analysis. The neutron separation energies, based upon the¹⁴N(n, γ)¹⁵N standard are found to be 8,641.60 (3) keV and 6,985.84 (5) keV for³³S and³⁵S respectively.     

Gamma rays from Kaluza-Klein dark matter

A TeV gamma-ray signal from the direction of the Galactic center (GC) has been detected by the HESS experiment. Here, we investigate whether Kaluza-Klein (KK) dark matter annihilations near the GC can be the explanation. Including the contributions from internal bremsstrahlung as well as subsequent decays of quarks and tau leptons, we find a very flat gamma-ray spectrum which drops abruptly at the dark matter particle mass. For a KK mass of about 1 TeV, this gives a good fit to the HESS data below 1 TeV. A similar model, with gauge coupling roughly 3 times as large and a particle mass of about 10 TeV, would give both the correct relic density and a photon spectrum that fits the complete range of data.     

Search for axions in thermal neutron capture by protons

A search for axions at a 500 MW light water power reactor was performed. From the measured upper limit on the n + p → d + a cross section the “standard” axion is ruled out.     

Levels in154Eu populated by thermal neutron capture

The level scheme of¹⁵⁴Eu has been investigated by means of thermal neutron captureγ-rays and conversion electrons. The high energyγ-ray spectrum from thermal neutron capture in enriched¹⁵³Eu has been studied in the energy range of 5700 to 6500 keV. Low energyγ radiation has been observed with Ge(Li) and Si(Li) detectors from 5 to 300 keV and conversion electrons have been measured from 15 to 300 keV. Low energy (n, γγ) coincidences and half lives of transitions have been measured. The data, combined with three very recent studies of the 8^? isomer decay in¹⁵⁴Eu has led to the construction of a level scheme with 12 excited levels. Nuclear Reaction¹⁵³Eu(n, γ),E _n =thermal, measuredE _γ ,I _γ ,E _ce ,I _ce ,γγ-coincidence, halflives,¹⁵⁴Eu deduced levels.     

Experiment on doubly radiative thermal neutron capture in hydrogen

An upper limit of 1.5×10^?4 was measured for the branching ratio of the doublephoton to single-photon transition from the 2.2 MeV np capture state to the ground state of the deuteron. This result was obtained in a coincidence experiment with two Ge(Li) detectors. Based on the total cross section of 334.2 mb for the thermal neutron capture in hydrogen, the upper limit corresponds to a cross section of 49 μb for the two-photon emission in the energy region 46 keV<E _γ<2177 keV.     

The thermal neutron capture gamma-ray spectrum of neon

The spectrum ofγ-rays in the energy range 1.8 to 10 MeV following thermal neutron capture on a neon target has been observed with a high-resolution pair spectrometer. The results differ significantly with those reported previously. Neutron separation energies with improved precision are inferred for all three isotopes.     

Gamma-ray spectra and level structure of Cr from thermal neutron capture in Cr

Gamma-ray measurements have been made of the ⁵⁴Cr(n, γ)⁵⁵ Cr reaction at the Livermore reactor. Spectra were taken with Ge(Li) Compton-suppression and pair-coincidence spectrometers. A total of 83 observed γ-rays are attributed to capture in ⁵⁴Cr, of which 26 are assigned to specific transitions among 10 inferred levels in ⁵⁵Cr. The neutron binding energy is determined to be 6246.3 ± 0.4 keV.     

Gamma rays from heavy neutralino dark matter

We consider the gamma-ray spectrum from neutralino dark matter annihilations and show that internal bremsstrahlung of pair final states gives a previously neglected source of photons at energies near the mass of the neutralino. For masses larger than about 1 TeV, and for present day detector resolutions, this results in a characteristic signal that may dominate not only over the continuous spectrum from W fragmentation, but also over the gammagamma and gammaZ line signals which are known to give large rates for heavy neutralinos. Observational prospects thus seem promising.     

Localized vacancies in palladium produced by thermal neutron capture recoil

The environment of recoil atoms in Pd metal after the (n, γ)-process in ¹¹⁰Pd at low temperatures has been studied by perturbed angular correlations of ¹¹¹Cd probes. It shows that 19(1) % of the recoil atoms have a vacancy as nearest neighbour.     

Levels of188Os populated by thermal neutron capture

Direct and coincidence gamma spectroscopy has been applied to the reaction¹⁸⁷Os(n, γ)¹⁸⁸Os. A neutron binding energy of 7,989.3±0.3 keV is deduced and a level scheme is established. The experimental level energies andB(E2) ratios are compared to calculations in the framework of the Interacting Boson Model.     

Spectroscopy of 41K by thermal neutron capture in 40K

The γ-ray spectrum emitted after thermal neutron capture in ⁴⁰K has been studied at the ILL high flux reactor with curved crystal Bragg, pair and Ge(Li) spectometers. 585 transitions were assigned to the reaction ⁴⁰K(n, γ)⁴¹K and 490 of them were placed into a ⁴¹K level scheme; 68 new states are proposed. On the basis of γ-ray branches to states with established spin and parity, many new spin-parity assignments were made. The level energies up to 4 MeV were measured with a precision of 8–50 eV relative to the 411.8 keV ¹⁹⁸Au standard, those above 4 MeV with a precision of 50–100 eV. The spin of the capture state was found to be $\text{I =}\text{7}\text{2}$; the neutron binding energy was determined to E_B = 10095.25(10) keV. The level density of $\text{I}{}^{\mathrm{\pi }}\text{=}\text{5}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{\pm }}\text{,}\text{7}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{\pm }}\text{,}\text{9}\text{2}{}^{\mathrm{\pm }}$ states was analyzed in terms of the constant-temperature Fermi gas model. It was shown that in this spin window the level scheme is almost complete up to an excitation energy of 5 MeV.     

High-multiplicity neutron emission from muon capture

The nuclear excitation function resulting from muon captures on pairs of nucleons which is induced by meson-exchange currents, is used to calculate the probabilities of high-multiplicity (X⩾6) neutron emission. For muon capture in ²⁰⁹Bi these are found to be 8 × 10⁻³ for X = 6, 3.5 × 10⁻³ for X = 7 and 0.7 × 10⁻³ for X = 8. Results are presented also for Pb, Ho and Ag. The agreement with existing experiments is very good.     

Strength functions of primary transitions following thermal neutron capture in strontium

The primaryE1,M1 andE2γ-radiation in^87,88,89Sr observed after thermal neutron capture was compared with the predictions of single particle and giant resonance models. The nuclei feature a wide range of neutron binding energies between 6.3 and 11.1 MeV, which makes a 5.5 MeV spectrum of primary transition energies available for investigation. The (n, γ) reaction was used to estimate the parameters of the spin-flip M1 giant resonance in strontium. The total energy weightedM1 strength of this resonance exceeds the results of shell model and random phase approximation calculations for⁹⁰Zr by a factor of 3–4. TheE1 strengths were found to agree with the established giant dipole resonance model. The few data on primaryE2 transitions do not allow to differentiate between the giant quadrupole resonance and the single particle models.