Irradiation of Nuclear Track Emulsions with Thermal Neutrons, Heavy Ions, and Muons

TL;DR

This paper investigates nuclear reactions and particle interactions in nuclear track emulsions exposed to thermal neutrons, heavy ions, and muons, revealing reaction mechanisms, particle energies, and high-multiplicity events.

Contribution

It provides new measurements of reaction products, energies, and interaction mechanisms in nuclear track emulsions exposed to various particles, including muons and heavy ions.

Findings

Identified angular and energy correlations in neutron-induced reactions.

Determined heavy ion energies using SRIM model based on range measurements.

Observed high-multiplicity nuclear stars from muon irradiation.

Abstract

Exposures of test samples of nuclear track emulsion were analyzed. Angular and energy correlations of products originating from the thermal-neutron-induced reaction n$_{th} + ^{10}$B $\rightarrow ^{7}$Li $+ (\gamma) + \alpha$ were studied in nuclear tack emulsions enriched in boron. Nuclear track emulsions were also irradiated with $^{86}$Kr$^{+17}$ and $^{132}$Xe$^{+26}$ of energy about 1.2 MeV per nucleon. Measurements of ranges of heavy ions in nuclear track emulsions made it possible to determine their energies on the basis of the SRIM model. The formation of high-multiplicity nuclear stars was observed upon irradiating nuclear track emulsions with ultrarelativistic muons. Kinematical features studied in this exposure of nuclear track emulsions for events of the muon-induced splitting of carbon nuclei to three alpha particles are indicative of the nuclear-diffraction interaction mechanism.