Abstrakt
The neutron capture cross section of Gd-154 was measured from 1 eV to 300 keV in the experimental area located 185 m from the CERN n_TOF neutron spallation source, using a metallic sample of gadolinium, enriched to 67% in Gd-154. The capture measurement, performed with four C6D6 scintillation detectors, has been complemented by a transmission measurement performed at the GELINA time-of-flight facility (JRC-Geel), thus minimising the uncertainty related to sample composition.
An accurate Maxwellian averaged capture cross section (MACS) was deduced over the temperature range of interest for s process nucleosynthesis modelling. We report a value of 880(50) mb for the MACS at kT = 30keV, significantly lower compared to values available in literature.
The new adopted Gd-154(n, gamma) cross section reduces the discrepancy between observed and calculated solar s-only isotopic abundances predicted by s-process nucleosynthesis models. (c) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).