Activation cross-section measurement of proton induced reactions on cerium

TL;DR

This study measured proton-induced reaction cross-sections on natural cerium up to 65 MeV, providing new experimental data to improve nuclear reaction models and support applications in nuclear medicine.

Contribution

First experimental cross-section data for proton reactions on cerium up to 65 MeV, aiding model validation and practical applications.

Findings

Measured cross-sections for multiple cerium reactions up to 65 MeV.

Compared experimental data with TENDL libraries, highlighting discrepancies.

Provided data useful for nuclear medicine and activation studies.

Abstract

In the framework of a systematic study of proton induced nuclear reactions on lanthanides we have measured the excitation functions on natural cerium for the production of 142,139,138m,137Pr, 141,139,137m,137g,135Ce and 133La up to 65 MeV proton energy using the activation method with stacked-foil irradiation technique and high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry. The cross-sections of the investigated reactions were compared with the data retrieved from the TENDL-2014 and TENDL-2015 libraries, based on the latest version of the TALYS code system. No earlier experimental data were found in the literature. The measured cross-section data are important for further improvement of nuclear reaction models and for practical applications in nuclear medicine, other labeling and activation studies.