Microscopic folding model analysis of the radiative $(n,\gamma)$ reactions near the $Z=28$ shell-closure and the weak s-process

TL;DR

This paper models neutron capture cross sections near the Z=28 shell closure using a microscopic folding approach combined with statistical Hauser-Feshbach calculations, providing data relevant for astrophysical nucleosynthesis.

Contribution

It introduces a microscopic folding model for optical potentials integrated with the TALYS code to calculate neutron capture cross sections near Z=28, enhancing accuracy for astrophysical applications.

Findings

Calculated MACS values for astrophysical energies.

Cross sections show good agreement with experimental data.

Provides data for p-, s-, and r-process nucleosynthesis.

Abstract

The radiative thermal neutron capture cross sections over the range of thermal energies from 1 keV to 1 MeV are studied in statistical Hauser-Feshbach formalism. The optical model potential is constructed by folding the density dependent M3Y nucleon-nucleon interaction with radial matter densities of target nuclei obtained from relativistic-mean-field (RMF) theory. The standard nuclear reaction code TALYS1.8 is used for calculation of cross sections. The nuclei studied in the present work reside near the $Z=28$ proton shell closure and are of astrophysical interests taking part in p-, s-, and r-process of nucleosynthesis. The Maxwellian-averaged cross-section (MACS) values for energies important for astrophysical applications are presented.