Comment on "Cross section of the 13C(α ,n )16O reaction: A background for the measurement of geo-neutrinos"
Abstract
Harissopulos et al. [Phys. Rev. C 72, 062801(R) (2005), 10.1103/PhysRevC.72.062801] report a cross section from a measurement that used a moderated neutron detector not capable of measuring the neutron energy and therefore unable to determine the relative contribution from neutrons that populate the ground state or excited 16O states in 13C(α ,n )16O reactions above 5 MeV. Since the energies of ejected neutrons populating the excited states are 6 MeV lower than those populating the ground state, the corresponding efficiency of their neutron detector for these neutrons was a factor of 2 higher than assumed. Therefore, the reported 13C(α ,n )16O cross sections above 5 MeV may be overcalculated by nearly 50%.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review C
- Pub Date:
- August 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevC.96.029801
- Bibcode:
- 2017PhRvC..96b9801P