Nuclear level densities and γ-ray strength functions of 180,181,182Ta

Abstract
Particle-γ coincidence experiments were performed at the Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory with the ¹⁸¹Ta(d,X) and ¹⁸¹Ta(³He,X) reactions to measure the nuclear level densities (NLDs) and γ-ray strength functions (γSFs) of ¹⁸⁰,¹⁸¹,¹⁸²Ta using the Oslo method. The back-shifted Fermi-gas, constant temperature plus Fermi gas, and Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov plus combinatorial models were used for the absolute normalizations of the experimental NLDs at the neutron separation energies. The NLDs and γSFs are used to calculate the corresponding ¹⁸¹Ta(n,γ) cross sections and these are compared to results from other techniques. The energy region of the scissors resonance strength is investigated and from the data and comparison to prior work it is concluded that the scissors strength splits into two distinct parts. This splitting may allow for the determination of triaxiality and a γ deformation of 14.9˚±1.8˚ was determined for ¹⁸¹Ta.
Description
CITATION: Brits, C. P., et al. 2019. Nuclear level densities and γ-ray strength functions of 180,181,182Ta. Physical Review C, 99(5):054330, doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.99.054330.
The original publication is available at https://journals.aps.org/prc
Keywords
Nuclear level density, Tantalum -- Density, Energy level densities, Energy levels (Quantum mechanics), Gamma rays -- Measurement, Energy levels (Quantum mechanics)
Citation
Brits, C. P., et al. 2019. Nuclear level densities and γ-ray strength functions of 180,181,182Ta. Physical Review C, 99(5):054330, doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.99.054330