Nuclide Production in 197Au, 208Pb, and natU Irradiated with 0.8-1 GeV Protons: Comparison with other Experiments and with Theoretical Predictions

TL;DR

This study measures over 400 nuclide production cross sections from proton irradiation of gold, lead, and uranium targets at 0.8-1 GeV, comparing results with other experiments and theoretical models to improve understanding of nuclear reactions.

Contribution

It provides extensive experimental cross section data for proton-induced reactions on heavy targets at GeV energies and compares these with existing experimental and theoretical results.

Findings

Measured cross sections are 10-20% higher than GSI data.

Data analyzed with LANL and Liege nuclear reaction codes.

Results help refine models of high-energy nuclear reactions.

Abstract

The ITEP proton synchrotron U10 was used to irradiate isotopically-enriched 208Pb and natU thin targets with 1.0 GeV protons and 197Au thin targets with 0.8 GeV protons. More than 400 cross sections of the nuclides produced were measured using the direct spectrometry method with a high-resolution Ge detector. The measured cross sections are compared with similar data obtained at GSI for kinematically inverse reactions of 1 GeV/nucleon 208Pb, 1 GeV/nucleon 238U, and 0.8 GeV/nucleon 197Au interacting with a hydrogen target and with the ZSR data on natPb and 197Au irradiated with 1 and 0.8 GeV protons, respectively. Our results are on average ~ 10 to 20% higher than the GSI data. The measured data are analyzed with the LANL codes CEM2k+GEM2 and LAQGSM+GEM2 and with the INCL intranuclear cascade code from Liege merged with the GSI evaporation/fission code ABLA.