Towards Neutron Capture on Exotic Nuclei: Demonstrating (d,pγ) as a Surrogate Reaction for (n,γ)

A. Ratkiewicz, J. A. Cizewski, J. E. Escher, G. Potel, J. T. Burke, R. J. Casperson, M. McCleskey, R. A.E. Austin, S. Burcher, R. O. Hughes, B. Manning, S. D. Pain, W. A. Peters, S. Rice, T. J. Ross, N. D. Scielzo, C. Shand, K. Smith

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Abstract

The neutron-capture reaction plays a critical role in the synthesis of the elements in stars and is important for societal applications including nuclear power generation and stockpile-stewardship science. However, it is difficult - if not impossible - to directly measure neutron capture cross sections for the exotic, short-lived nuclei that participate in these processes. In this Letter we demonstrate a new technique which can be used to indirectly determine neutron-capture cross sections for exotic systems. This technique makes use of the (d,p) transfer reaction, which has long been used as a tool to study the structure of nuclei. Recent advances in reaction theory, together with data collected using this reaction, enable the determination of neutron-capture cross sections for short-lived nuclei. A benchmark study of the Mo95(d,p) reaction is presented, which illustrates the approach and provides guidance for future applications of the method with short-lived isotopes produced at rare isotope accelerators.

Original languageEnglish
Article number052502
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume122
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 7 2019

Funding

The authors thank the staff of the Texas A&M Cyclotron Institute for providing the beams used in this work. This work was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under the Stewardship Science Academic Alliances program, NNSA Grants No. DE-FG52-09NA29467 and No. DE-NA0000979, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344 and LDRD 16-ERD-022, Texas A&M Nuclear Physics Grant No. DE-FG02-93ER40773, the Office of Nuclear Physics, and the National Science Foundation.

FundersFunder number
Texas A&M Nuclear PhysicsDE-FG02-93ER40773
U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security AdministrationDE-FG52-09NA29467, DE-NA0000979
National Science Foundation1812316
Nuclear Physics
Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryLDRD 16-ERD-022, DE-AC52-07NA27344

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