Comprehensive analysis of uncertainty quantification for the 58Ni(n, p)58Co reaction cross section* *Project supported by the Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India (File No 09/013(882)/2019-EMR-1) for providing senior research fellowships, the IUAC-UGC, Government of India (Sanction No. IUAC/XIII.7/UFR- 71353), and Institutions of Eminence (IoE) BHU (Grant No. 6031).

Abstract

In this study, we measured the 58Ni(n, p)58Co reaction cross section with neutron energies of 1.06, 1.86, and 2.85 MeV. The cross section was measured using neutron activation techniques and γ-ray spectroscopy, and it was compared with cross section data available in the EXFOR. Furthermore, we calculated the covariance matrix of the measured cross section for the aforementioned nuclear reaction. The uncertainties of the theoretical calculation for 58Ni(n, p)58Co reaction cross section were calculated via Monte Carlo method. In this study, we used uncertainties in the optical model and level density parameters to calculate uncertainties in the theoretical cross sections. The theoretical calculations were performed by using TALYS-1.96. In this study, we aim to analyze the effect of uncertainties of the nuclear model input as well as different experimental variables used to obtain the values of reaction cross section.