First Results of the 140Ce(n,gamma)141Ce Cross-Section Measurement at n_TOF

First Results of the 140Ce(n,gamma)141Ce Cross-Section Measurement at n_TOF

Amaducci, S.; Colonna, N.; Cosentino, L.; Cristallo, S.; Finocchiaro, P.; Krtička, M.; Massimi, C.; Mastromarco, M.; Mazzone, A.; Mengoni, A.; Valenta, S.; Aberle, O.; Alcayne, V.; Andrzejewski, J.; Audouin, L.; Babiano-Suarez, V.; Bacak, M.; Barbagallo, M.; Bennett, S.; Berthoumieux, E.; Billowes, J.; Bosnar, D.; Brown, A.; Busso, M.; Caamaño, M.; Caballero-Ontanaya, L.; Calviño, F.; Calviani, M.; Cano-Ott, D.; Casanovas, A.; Cerutti, F.; Chiaveri, E.; Cortés, G.; Cortés-Giraldo, M.; Damone, L.-A.; Davies, P.-J.; Diakaki, M.; Dietz, M.; Domingo-Pardo, C.; Dressler, R.; Ducasse, Q.; Dupont, E.; Durán, I.; Eleme, Z.; Fernández-Dominguez, B.; Ferrari, A.; Furman, V.; Göbel, K.; Garg, R.; Gawlik, A.; Gilardoni, S.; Gonçalves, I.; González-Romero, E.; Guerrero, C.; Gunsing, F.; Harada, H.; Heinitz, S.; Heyse, J.; Jenkins, D.; Junghans, A.; Käppeler, F.; Kadi, Y.; Kimura, A.; Knapova, I.; Kokkoris, M.; Kopatch, Y.; Kurtulgil, D.; Ladarescu, I.; Lederer-Woods, C.; Leeb, H.; Lerendegui-Marco, J.; Lonsdale, S.-J.; Macina, D.; Manna, A.; Martinez, T.; Masi, A.; Mastinu, P.; Maugeri, E.-A.; Mendoza, E.; Michalopoulou, V.; Milazzo, P.; Mingrone, F.; Moreno-Soto, J.; Musumarra, A.; Negret, A.; Ogállar, F.; Oprea, A.; Patronis, N.; Pavlik, A.; Perkowski, J.; Piersanti, L.; Petrone, C.; Pirovano, E.; Porras, I.; Praena, J.; Quesada, J.-M.; Ramos-Doval, D.; Rauscher, T.; Reifarth, R.; Rochman, D.; Rubbia, C.; Sabaté-Gilarte, M.; Saxena, A.; Schillebeeckx, P.; Schumann, D.; Sekhar, A.; Smith, G.; Sosnin, N.; Sprung, P.; Stamatopoulos, A.; Tagliente, G.; Tain, J.; Tarifeño-Saldivia, A.; Tassan-Got, L.; Thomas, B.; Torres-Sánchez, P.; Tsinganis, A.; Ulrich, J.; Urlaß, S.; Vannini, G.; Variale, V.; Vaz, P.; Ventura, A.; Vescovi, D.; Vlachoudis, V.; Vlastou, R.; Wallner, A.; Woods, P.; Wright, T.; Žugec, P.

Abstract

An accurate measurement of the 140Ce(n,g) energy-dependent cross-section was performed
at the n_TOF facility at CERN. This cross-section is of great importance because it represents a
bottleneck for the s-process nucleosynthesis and determines to a large extent the cerium abundance in
stars. The measurement was motivated by the significant difference between the cerium abundance
measured in globular clusters and the value predicted by theoretical stellar models. This discrepancy
can be ascribed to an overestimation of the 140Ce capture cross-section due to a lack of accurate
nuclear data. For this measurement, we used a sample of cerium oxide enriched in 140Ce to 99.4%.
The experimental apparatus consisted of four deuterated benzene liquid scintillator detectors, which
allowed us to overcome the difficulties present in the previous measurements, thanks to their very
low neutron sensitivity. The accurate analysis of the p-wave resonances and the calculation of their
average parameters are fundamental to improve the evaluation of the 140Ce Maxwellian-averaged
cross-section.

Keywords: cerium; 140Ce; neutron capture; cross-section; n_TOF; MACS; nucleosynthesis

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