Neutron capture cross sections from surrogate reaction data and theory: connecting the pieces with a Markov-Chain Monte Carlo approach

Abstract

The neutron capture cross section for ${}^{90}Zr(n,\gamma )$ has recently been determined using surrogate ${}^{92}Zr(p,d\gamma )$ data and nuclear reaction theory. That work employed an approximate fitting method based on Bayesian Monte Carlo sampling to determine parameters needed for calculating the ${}^{90}Zr(n,\gamma )$ cross section. Here, we improve the approach by introducing a more sophisticated Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling method. We present preliminary results.

Comments: Accepted into the proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Compound-Nuclear Reactions and Related Topics, Berkeley, California, September 24-28, 2018. 4 pages, 1 figure