Abstract
The inelastic neutron-scattering cross section of has been determined in a time-of-flight experiment at the Karlsruhe -MV Van de Graaff accelerator. An almost monoenergetic beam of 30-keV neutrons was produced at the threshold of the () reaction. Information on the inelastic channel is required for reliable calculations of the so-called stellar enhancement factor, by which the laboratory cross section of must be corrected in order to account for the thermal population of low-lying excited states at the temperatures of -process nucleosynthesis, in particular of the important state at 9.75 keV. This correction represents a crucial step in the interpretation of the / pair as a cosmochronometer.
3 More- Received 14 December 2009
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.82.015803
©2010 American Physical Society
Synopsis
An ancient clock
Published 15 July 2010
Refining a cosmic clock gives a more accurate reading of the age of our galaxy.
See more in Physics