Measurement of neutron induced reaction cross-section of tantalum with covariance analysis

TL;DR

This paper reports the measurement of neutron-induced reaction cross-sections of tantalum at various energies, employing covariance analysis to quantify uncertainties and compare results with existing data and models.

Contribution

It introduces the first covariance analysis for the $^{181}$Ta(n,$eta$)$^{182}$Ta reaction cross-section measurement, enhancing uncertainty quantification in nuclear data.

Findings

Measured cross-sections at multiple neutron energies.

Quantified uncertainties using covariance analysis.

Compared results with existing data and models.

Abstract

The current study presents the cross-section measurement of $^{181}$Ta(n,$\gamma$)$^{182}$Ta reaction at 1.37 $\pm$ 0.13, 2.06 $\pm$ 0.14, 2.56 $\pm$ 0.15, and 3.05 $\pm$ 0.17 MeV neutron energies utilizing offline $\gamma$-ray spectroscopy. The neutrons were generated through the $^{7}$Li(p,n)$^{7}$Be reaction. The $^{115}$In(n,n'$\gamma$)$^{115m}$In reaction served as a monitor reaction. The covariance analysis was used to quantify the uncertainties in the measured cross-sections for the first time for the $^{181}$Ta(n,$\gamma$)$^{182}$Ta reaction. The present study provides detailed information on the propagation of uncertainty in the overall result. The required corrections for low energy background neutron and $\gamma$-ray coincidence summing effect have been made in the present measurement. The output is compared with the pre-existing cross-section data from the EXFOR database, evaluated data libraries and theoretical model predictions.