The 62Ni(n,gamma)63Ni(t_1/2=100+-2 yrs) reaction plays an important role in the control of the flow path of the slow neutron-capture (s-) nucleosynthesis process. We have measured for the first time the total cross section of this reaction for a quasi-Maxwellian (kT = 25 keV) neutron flux. The measurement was performed by fast-neutron activation, combined with accelerator mass spectrometry to detect directly the 63Ni product nuclei. The experimental value of 28.4+-2.8 mb, fairly consistent with a recent theoretical estimate, affects the calculated net yield of 62Ni itself and the whole distribution of nuclei with 62<A <90 produced by the weak s-process in massive stars.
@article{arxiv.nucl-ex/0406009,
title = {The stellar (n,gamma) cross section of 62Ni},
author = {H. Nassar and M. Paul and I. Ahmad and D. Berkovits and M. Bettan and P. Collon and S. Dababneh and S. Ghelberg and J. P. Greene and A. Heger and M. Heil and D. J. Henderson and C. L. Jiang and F. Kaeppeler and H. Koivisto and S. O'Brien and R. C. Pardo and N. Patronis and T. Pennington and R. Plag and K. E. Rehm and R. Reifarth and R. Scott and S. Sinha and X. Tang and R. Vondrasek},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:nucl-ex/0406009},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 3 figures, revised paper, published PRL 94, 092504 (2005)