Abstrakt
Xe-136 is a 0 nu beta beta decay candidate isotope, and is used in multiple experiments searching for this hypothetical decay mode. These experiments require precise information about neutron capture for their background characterization and minimization.
Thermal and resonant neutron capture on Xe-136 have been measured at the Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments ( DANCE) at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. A neutron beam ranging from thermal energy to greater than 100 keV was incident on a gas cell filled with isotopically pure Xe-136.
The relative neutron capture cross sections for neutrons at thermal energies and the first resonance at 2.154 keV have been measured, yielding a new absolute measurement of 0.238 +/- 0.019 b for the thermal neutron capture cross section. Additionally, the gamma cascades for captures at both energies have been measured, and cascade models have been developed which may be used by 0 nu beta beta experiments using Xe-136.