Reference Database for Photon Strength Functions

Photon strength functions describing the average response of the nucleus to an electromagnetic probe are key input information in the theoretical modelling of nuclear reactions and consequently they are highly relevant to a wide range of fields in basic sciences and applications such as nuclear structure, nuclear astrophysics, medical isotope production, fission and fusion reactor technologies, activation analyses and safeguards. They are also sources of information for widely used databases such as the IAEA Reference Input Parameter Library, the evaluated data files, such as ENSDF, EGAF, and the astrophysical reaction databases (e.g. BRUSLIB, STARLIB, REACLIB). In the past two decades, there has been considerable growth in the amount of reaction gamma-ray data measured to determine photon strength functions. Quite often the different experimental techniques lead to discrepant results and users are faced with the dilemma of deciding which (if any) amongst the divergent data they should adopt.