Isomeric pair ${^{95\rm m,g}\rm{Nb}}$ in photonuclear reactions on $^{\rm nat}$Mo at end-point bremsstrahlung energy of 35-95 MeV

TL;DR

This study measured the isomeric yield ratio of ${^{95 m m,g} m{Nb}}$ in photonuclear reactions on natural molybdenum at energies 35-95 MeV, comparing experimental data with TALYS-based theoretical models.

Contribution

First experimental determination of the isomeric yield ratio for ${^{95 m m,g} m{Nb}}$ in this energy range, extending existing data and comparing with theoretical predictions.

Findings

Experimental isomeric yield ratios agree with previous data.

Theoretical models overestimate the ratio by more than 3.85 times.

The ratio decreases smoothly with increasing photon energy.

Abstract

The ${^{\rm nat}\rm{Mo}}(\gamma,x\rm np)^{95\rm m,g}$Nb photonuclear reaction was studied using the electron beam from the NSC KIPT linear accelerator LUE-40. Experiment was performed using the activation and off-line $\gamma$-ray spectrometric technique. The experimental isomeric yield ratio $d(E_{\rm{\gamma max}}) = Y_{\rm m}(E_{\rm{\gamma max}}) / Y_{\rm g}(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})$ was determined for the reaction products $^{95\rm m,g}\rm{Nb}$ at the end-point bremsstrahlung energy $E_{\rm{\gamma max}}$ range of 35-95 MeV. The obtained values of $d(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})$ are in satisfactory agreement with the results of other authors and extend the range of previously known data. The theoretical values of the yields $Y_{\rm m,g}(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})$ and the isomeric yield ratio $d(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})$ for the isomeric pair $^{95\rm m,g}\rm{Nb}$ from the ${^{\rm nat}\rm{Mo}}(\gamma,x\rm np)$ reaction were calculated using the partial cross-sections $\sigma(E)$ from the TALYS1.95 code for six different level density models $LD$. The comparison showed a noticeable excess (more than 3.85 times) of the experimental isomeric yield ratio over all theoretical estimates. At the investigated range of $E_{\rm{\gamma max}}$ the theoretical dependence of $d(E_{\rm{\gamma max}})$ on energy was confirmed - the isomeric yield ratio smoothly decreases with increasing energy.