Mechanism of the Zn 64(n, p)Cu 64 reaction at incident neutron energies of 8 and 14 MeV

Abstract

The Zn 64(n, p)Cu 64 reaction was studied at incident neutron energies of 8 and 14 MeV. These experiments were part of an investigation of the adequacy of the statistical model concept of the compound nucleus to describe interactions when complex nuclei are bombarded by neutrons of energies in the region of nuclear binding energies. The spectral and spatial distributions of most of the protons indicate that the compound-nucleus hypothesis may be satisfied. The high-energy proton distributions are in sharp contrast with the predictions of the statistical model and contradict the compound-nucleus hypothesis. For 8-MeV neutron bombarding energy, there is an inordinately large probability for the emission or protons with energies considerably lower than that of the Coulomb barrier.