Level Density and Radiative Strength Functions of the $^{237}$U Nucleus from the $(\overline{n},\gamma)$ Reaction

TL;DR

This paper analyzes neutron capture data on uranium-236 to estimate nuclear level densities and radiative strength functions, providing independent insights into nuclear structure up to 2.3 MeV excitation energy.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of analyzing gamma-ray intensities to estimate level densities and radiative widths without relying on other experimental techniques.

Findings

Estimated level numbers for spins J=1/2, 3/2.

Determined sum of radiative widths for electric and magnetic dipole transitions.

Provided data up to excitation energy of approximately 2.3 MeV.

Abstract

The independent analysis of the published data on the intensities of the primary gamma-quanta following resonance neutron capture in $^{236}U$ has been performed. Distribution of these intensities about the mean value was approximated in different energy intervals of the primary gamma-transitions and neutrons. Extrapolation of the obtained functions to the zero registration threshold of the primary gamma-transition intensity allowed us to estimate (independently on the other experimental methods) expected level number of both parities for spin values J=1/2, 3/2 and sum of radiative widths for both electric and magnetic dipole gamma-transitions to levels with excitation energy up to $\approx 2.3$ MeV.