Phenomenological description of neutron capture cross sections at 30 keV

TL;DR

This paper identifies simple phenomenological rules governing neutron capture cross sections at 30 keV and uses them to predict cross sections for heavy nuclei with proton number above 83, where data are scarce.

Contribution

It introduces phenomenological rules for neutron capture cross sections and extends predictions to nuclei with high proton numbers beyond existing data.

Findings

Discovered simple rules obeyed by cross sections

Predicted cross sections for nuclei with Z > 83

Extended understanding of neutron capture at 30 keV

Abstract

Studying published data of Maxwellian averaged neutron capture cross sections, we found simple phenomenological rules obeyed by the cross sections as a function of proton and neutron number. We use these rules to make predictions for cross sections of neutron capture on nuclei with proton number above 83, where very few data are available.