Neutron Transfer to the Ground State ofN15in theN14(N14,N13)N15Reaction

Abstract

The neutron transfer differential cross sections were measured at center- of-mass energies of 9, 11, 12, 14, and 16 Mev for the N/sup 14/(N/sup 14/,N/sup 13/)N/sup 15/ reaction. The energies of the N/sup 13/ nuclei were measured so that the cross sections determined are known to be associated with the transfer of a neutron to the ground state of the residual N/sup 15/ nucleus. It is found that the total cross section for transfer to the ground state of N/sup 15/ is approximately constant over the range of energies studied in contrast to the results of Toth and that a plot of the differential cross section d sigma /dR/sub min/ (where R/sub min/ is the classical distance of closest approach between the nitrogen nuclei) has an exponential dropoff with large R/sub min/ values that is 1/5 as steep as that given by the semiclassical tunneling theory of Breit and Ebel and at all five energies studied. By considering recent experimental data taken at reaction energies below the Coulomb barrier where the data do agree with a quantum-mechanical formulation of the tunneling theory, it is argued that the large disagreement between the tunneling theory and the higher energy data presented canmore » most likely be accounted for by introducing, as Greider has done, a nuclear interaction between the projectile and target nucleus. (auth)« less