Investigation of level density parameter dependence for some 233U, 235U, 237U, 239U, 249Cf, 251Cf, 237Pu and 247Cm nuclei in neutron fission cross sections with the incident energy up to 20 MeV

Level density models have increasing importance to gain more in-depth into the nature of nuclear reactions. Many novel and advanced medical application use radioisotopes, which are produced with nuclear reactions. In this study, the effect of the level density parameters of the nucleus on the cross sections of neutron-fission reactions for 233U, 235U, 237U, 239U, 249Cf, 251Cf, 237Pu and 247Cm nuclei were investigated for up to 20 MeV neutrons. TALYS 1.8 software was used to calculate the cross-sections of neutron-fission reactions for different level density parameters. The calculations were compared with the EXFOR nuclear data library and the level density parameters, and the closest fit were searched. As outputs of the study, the effect of selection of level density parameter on cross section calculations was observed. The theoretically obtained data were compared with the experimental data taken from the literature. The results are presented graphically for better interpretation.

Updated nuclear level density parameters of 153Sm nucleus within the back-shifted Fermi gas model

The present work re-evaluates the level density parameter a, asymptotic level density parameter aasy, and back-shifted energy parameter E1 within the back-shifted Fermi gas model (BSFG) for the 153Sm nucleus. This reevaluation is based on the experimental nuclear level scheme extracted from the ENSDF library, the average level spacing at the neutron binding energy (D0 value), and the latest updated nuclear level scheme obtained from an experimental gamma cascade experiment, which was performed at the Dalat Nuclear Research Reactor using the thermal neutron beam. The updated values of the BSFG level parameters are: (1) a=18.09±0.25 MeV-1and E1=-0.92±0.07 MeV for the energy-independent level density parameter; and (2) aasy=15.00±0.20 MeV-1and E1=-0.81±0.08 MeV for the energy-dependent level density parameter. It has been found that the total nuclear level densities calculated using these updated parameters agree with the experimental data better than those using parameters taken from the nuclear reference database RIPL-3. These updated parameters are more accurate and reliable than those extracted from RIPL-3 and are, therefore, highly recommended for all the applications hereafter.

Analysis of n-evaporation from light mass nuclei formed via p-induced reactions

This work deals with the decay analysis of three compound nuclei [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] formed in proton-induced reactions [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] at incident beam energies of 1–5 MeV using the Dynamical Cluster-decay Model (DCM). The motive is to explore the decay of compound systems formed via light charged particles as projectiles. The experimentally available data of n-evaporation for the aforementioned systems are addressed by optimizing the neck-length parameter [Formula: see text], using spherical fragmentation approach. The comparative analysis of the decay structure of the chosen systems is carried out at a common incident beam energy [Formula: see text] MeV. The effect of angular momentum [Formula: see text] and quadrupole [Formula: see text]-deformations is explored in reference to the decay structure/fragmentation of compound systems. In addition to this, the sensitivity of DCM-based cross-sections toward level density parameter (LDP) [Formula: see text] is also analyzed. The relative role of mass-dependent level density parameter [Formula: see text] is also investigated for compound systems belonging to light and heavy mass region. Lastly, a theoretical systematics is explored where the proton beam in the reaction [Formula: see text] is replaced by a neutron beam forming the compound system [Formula: see text], having the same [Formula: see text], but [Formula: see text] one less than that of the compound system formed in the reaction using proton beam, and its effect on the decay characteristics such as preformation probability, penetration probability and barrier height is analyzed.

Ignatyuk damping factor: A semiclassical formula

Data on nuclear-level densities extracted from transmission data or gamma energy spectrum store the basic statistical information about nuclei at various temperatures. Generally, this extracted data goes through model fitting using computer codes like CASCADE. However, recently established semiclassical methods involving no adjustable parameters to determine the level density parameter for magic and semi-magic nuclei give a good agreement with the experimental values. One of the popular ways to paramaterize the level density parameter which includes the shell effects and its damping was given by Ignatyuk. This damping factor is usually fitted from the experimental data on nuclear-level density and it comes around 0.05 [Formula: see text]. In this work, we calculate the Ignatyuk damping factor for various nuclei using semiclassical methods.

The nuclear level density parameter

The nuclear level density parameter in non Equi-Spacing Model (NON-ESM), Equi-Spacing Model (ESM) and the Backshifted Energy Dependent Fermi Gas model (BSEDFG) was determined for 106 nuclei; the results are tabulated and compared with the experimental works. It was found that there are no recognizable differences between our results and the experimental -values. The calculated level density parameters have been used in computing the state density as a function of the excitation energies for 58Fe and 246Cm nuclei. The results are in a good agreement with the experimental results from earlier published work.

The effect of deformation parameter of heavy nuclei on level density parameter

The possible effect of the collective motion in heavy nuclei has been investigated in the framework of Nilson model. This effect has been searched realistically by calculating the level density, which plays a significant role in the description of the reaction cross sections in the statistical nuclear theory. The nuclear level density parameter for some deformed radioisotopes of (even- even) target nuclei (Dy, W and Os) is calculated, by taking into consideration the collective motion for excitation modes for the observed nuclear spectra near the neutron binding energy. The method employed in the present work assumes equidistant spacing of the collective coupled state bands of the considered isotopes. The present calculated results for first excited rotational band have been compared with the accumulated values from the literature for s-wave neutron resonance data, and were in good agreement with those data.