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n_TOF Collaboration(Paradela, C. et al), Domingo-Pardo, C., Giubrone, G., & Tain, J. L. (2015). High-accuracy determination of the U-238/U-235 fission cross section ratio up to approximate to 1 GeV at n_TOF at CERN. Phys. Rev. C, 91(2), 024602–11pp.
Abstract: The U-238 to U-235 fission cross section ratio has been determined at nTOF up to approximate to 1 GeV, with two different detection systems, in different geometrical configurations. A total of four datasets has been collected and compared. They are all consistent to each other within the relative systematic uncertainty of 3-4%. The data collected at nTOF have been suitably combined to yield a unique fission cross section ratio as a function of neutron energy. The result confirms current evaluations up to 200 MeV. Good agreement is also observed with theoretical calculations based on the INCL++ /Gemini++ combination up to the highest measured energy. The n_TOF results may help solve a long-standing discrepancy between the two most important experimental datasets available so far above 20 MeV, while extending the neutron energy range for the first time up to approximate to 1 GeV.
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Valencia, E. et al, Tain, J. L., Algora, A., Agramunt, J., Estevez, E., Jordan, M. D., et al. (2017). Total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy of the beta-delayed neutron emitters Br-87, Br-88, and Rb-94. Phys. Rev. C, 95(2), 024320–18pp.
Abstract: We investigate the decay of Br-87,Br-88 and Rb-94 using total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy. These important fission products are beta-delayed neutron emitters. Our data show considerable beta gamma intensity, so far unobserved in high-resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy, from states at high excitation energy. We also find significant differences with the beta intensity that can be deduced from existing measurements of the beta spectrum. We evaluate the impact of the present data on reactor decay heat using summation calculations. Although the effect is relatively small it helps to reduce the discrepancy between calculations and integral measurements of the photon component for U-235 fission at cooling times in the range 1-100 s. We also use summation calculations to evaluate the impact of present data on reactor antineutrino spectra. We find a significant effect at antineutrino energies in the range of 5 to 9 MeV. In addition, we observe an unexpected strong probability for. emission from neutron unbound states populated in the daughter nucleus. The. branching is compared to Hauser-Feshbach calculations, which allow one to explain the large value for bromine isotopes as due to nuclear structure. However the branching for Rb-94, although much smaller, hints of the need to increase the radiative width gamma by one order of magnitude. This increase in gamma would lead to a similar increase in the calculated (n, gamma) cross section for this very neutron-rich nucleus with a potential impact on r process abundance calculations.
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Guadilla, V., Algora, A., Tain, J. L., Agramunt, J., Jordan, D., Monserrate, M., et al. (2019). Total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy of niobium isomers. Phys. Rev. C, 100(2), 024311–15pp.
Abstract: The beta-intensity distributions of the decays of Nb-100gs,Nb-100m and Nb-102gs,Nb-102m have been determined using the total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy technique. The JYFLTRAP double Penning trap system was employed in a campaign of challenging measurements performed with the decay total absorption gamma-ray spectrometer at the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line facility in Jyvaskyla. Different strategies were applied to disentangle the isomeric states involved, lying very close in energy. The low-spin component of each niobium case was populated through the decay of the zirconium parent, which was treated as a contaminant. We have applied a method to extract this contamination, and additionally we have obtained beta-intensity distributions for these zirconium decays. The beta-strength distributions evaluated with these results were compared with calculations in a quasiparticle random-phase approximation, suggesting a prolate configuration for the ground states of Zr-100,Zr-102. The footprint of the Pandemonium effect was found when comparing our results for the analyses of the niobium isotopes with previous decay data. The beta-intensities of the decay of Nb-102m, for which there were no previous data, were obtained. A careful evaluation of the uncertainties was carried out, and the consistency of our results was validated taking advantage of the segmentation of our spectrometer. The final results were used as input in reactor summation calculations. A large impact on antineutrino spectrum calculations was already reported, and here we detail the significant impact on decay heat calculations.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Lederer-Woods, C. et al.), Domingo-Pardo, C., & Tain, J. L. (2021). Destruction of the cosmic gamma-ray emitter Al-26 in massive stars: Study of the key Al-26(n, p) reaction. Phys. Rev. C, 104(2), L022803–7pp.
Abstract: The Al-26(n, p) Mg-26 reaction is the key reaction impacting on the abundances of the cosmic gamma-ray emitter Al-26 produced in massive stars and impacts on the potential pollution of the early solar system with Al-26 by asymptotic giant branch stars. We performed a measurement of the Al-26(n, p) Mg-26 cross section at the high-flux beam line EAR-2 at the n_TOF facility (CERN). We report resonance strengths for eleven resonances, nine being measured for the first time, while there is only one previous measurement for the other two. Our resonance strengths are significantly lower than the only previous values available. Our cross-section data range to 150 keV neutron energy, which is sufficient for a reliable determination of astrophysical reactivities up to 0.5 GK stellar temperature.
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Estienne, M., Fallot, M., Algora, A., Briz-Monago, J., Bui, V. M., Cormon, S., et al. (2019). Updated Summation Model: An Improved Agreement with the Daya Bay Antineutrino Fluxes. Phys. Rev. Lett., 123(2), 022502–6pp.
Abstract: A new summation method model of the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum is presented. It is updated with the most recent evaluated decay databases and with our total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy measurements performed during the last decade. For the first time, the spectral measurements from the Daya Bay experiment are compared with the antineutrino energy spectrum computed with the updated summation method without any renormalization. The results exhibit a better agreement than is obtained with the Huber-Mueller model in the 2-5 MeV range, the region that dominates the detected flux. A systematic trend is found in which the antineutrino flux computed with the summation model decreases with the inclusion of more pandemonium-free data. The calculated flux obtained now lies only 1.9% above that detected in the Daya Bay experiment, a value that may be reduced with forthcoming new pandemonium-free data, leaving less room for a reactor anomaly. Eventually, the new predictions of individual antineutrino spectra for the U-235, Pu-239, Pu-241, and U-238 are used to compute the dependence of the reactor antineutrino spectral shape on the fission fractions.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Lederer, C. et al), Domingo-Pardo, C., Giubrone, G., & Tain, J. L. (2013). Neutron Capture Cross Section of Unstable Ni-63: Implications for Stellar Nucleosynthesis. Phys. Rev. Lett., 110(2), 022501–5pp.
Abstract: The Ni-63(n, gamma) cross section has been measured for the first time at the neutron time-of-flight facility n_TOF at CERN from thermal neutron energies up to 200 keV. In total, capture kernels of 12 (new) resonances were determined. Maxwellian averaged cross sections were calculated for thermal energies from kT = 5-100 keV with uncertainties around 20%. Stellar model calculations for a 25M(circle dot) star show that the new data have a significant effect on the s-process production of Cu-63, Ni-64, and Zn-64 in massive stars, allowing stronger constraints on the Cu yields from explosive nucleosynthesis in the subsequent supernova.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Zugec, P. et al), Domingo-Pardo, C., Giubrone, G., & Tain, J. L. (2014). Measurement of the C-12(n, p)B-12 cross section at n_TOF at CERN by in-beam activation analysis. Phys. Rev. C, 90(2), 021601–5pp.
Abstract: The integral cross section of the C-12(n, p)B-12 reaction has been determined for the first time in the neutron energy range from threshold to several GeV at the n_TOF facility at CERN. The measurement relies on the activation technique with the beta decay of B-12 measured over a period of four half-lives within the same neutron bunch in which the reaction occurs. The results indicate that model predictions, used in a variety of applications, are mostly inadequate. The value of the integral cross section reported here can be used as a benchmark for verifying or tuning model calculations.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Fujii, K. et al), Domingo-Pardo, C., & Tain, J. L. (2010). Neutron physics of the Re/Os clock. III. Resonance analyses and stellar (n, gamma) cross sections of Os-186,Os-187,Os-188. Phys. Rev. C, 82(1), 015804–18pp.
Abstract: Neutron resonance analyses have been performed for the capture cross sections of Os-186, Os-187, and Os-188 measured at the n_TOF facility at CERN. Resonance parameters have been extracted up to 5, 3, and 8 keV, respectively, using the SAMMY code for a full R-matrix fit of the capture yields. From these results average resonance parameters were derived by a statistical analysis to provide a comprehensive experimental basis for modeling of the stellar neutron capture rates of these isotopes in terms of the Hauser-Feshbach statistical model. Consistent calculations for the capture and inelastic reaction channels are crucial for the evaluation of stellar enhancement factors to correct the Maxwellian averaged cross sections obtained from experimental data for the effect of thermally populated excited states. These factors have been calculated for the full temperature range of current scenarios of s-process nucleosynthesis using the combined information of the experimental data in the region of resolved resonances and in the continuum. The consequences of this analysis for the s-process component of the Os-187 abundance and the related impact on the evaluation of the time duration of galactic nucleosynthesis via the Re/Os cosmochronometer are discussed.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Mosconi, M. et al), Domingo-Pardo, C., & Tain, J. L. (2010). Neutron physics of the Re/Os clock. I. Measurement of the (n, gamma) cross sections of Os-186,Os-187,Os-188 at the CERN n_TOF facility. Phys. Rev. C, 82(1), 015802–10pp.
Abstract: The precise determination of the neutron capture cross sections of Os-186 and Os-187 is important to define the s-process abundance of Os-187 at the formation of the solar system. This quantity can be used to evaluate the radiogenic component of the abundance of Os-187 due to the decay of the unstable Re-187 (t(1/2) = 41.2 Gyr) and from this to infer the time duration of the nucleosynthesis in our galaxy (Re/Os cosmochronometer). The neutron capture cross sections of Os-186, Os-187, and Os-188 have been measured at the CERN n_TOF facility from 1 eV to 1 MeV, covering the entire energy range of astrophysical interest. The measurement has been performed by time-of-flight technique using isotopically enriched samples and two C6D6 scintillation detectors for recording the prompt. rays emitted in the capture events. Maxwellian averaged capture cross sections have been determined for thermal energies between kT = 5 and 100 keV corresponding to all possible s-process scenarios. The estimated uncertainties for the values at 30 keV are 4.1, 3.3, and 4.7% for Os-186, Os-187, and Os-188, respectively.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Tagliente, G. et al.), Domingo-Pardo, C., & Tain, J. L. (2011). Neutron capture on (94)Zr: Resonance parameters and Maxwellian-averaged cross sections. Phys. Rev. C, 84(1), 015801–9pp.
Abstract: The neutron capture cross sections of the Zr isotopes play an important role in nucleosynthesis studies. The s-process reaction flow between the Fe seed and the heavier isotopes passes through the neutron magic nucleus (90)Zr and through (91,92,93,94)Zr, but only part of the flow extends to (96)Zr because of the branching point at (95)Zr. Apart from their effect on the s-process flow, the comparably small isotopic (n, gamma) cross sections make Zr also an interesting structural material for nuclear reactors. The (94)Zr (n, gamma) cross section has been measured with high resolution at the spallation neutron source n_TOF at CERN and resonance parameters are reported up to 60 keV neutron energy.
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