1202.5185 (O. Lebeda et al.)

Excitation functions of proton-induced reactions on natural Nd in the
10-30 MeV energy range, and production of radionuclides relevant for
double-β decay    [PDF]

O. Lebeda, V. Lozza, P. Schrock, J. Štursa, K. Zuber

A preferred candidate for neutrinoless double-{\beta} decay, 150Nd, is
present in natural neodymium at an abundance level of 5.64%. However, neodymium
could be activated by cosmic rays during the period it spends on the Earth's
surface. Its activation by protons is therefore of interest when it comes to
estimating the possible disturbance effects and increased background during
neutrinoless double-{\beta}-decay experiments like Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
plus liquid scintillator (SNO+). In most cases, we lack experimental data on
proton-induced reactions on neodymium. Therefore, a measurement of cross
sections has been performed for the formation of 141Pm, 143Pm, 144Pm, 146Pm,
148Pm, 148Pmm, 149Pm, 150Pm, 140Nd, 141Nd, 147Nd, 149Nd, 138Prm, 139Pr, 142Pr,
and 139Ce by 10-30 MeV protons. Oxidation-protected metal foil targets of
natural isotopic abundance were irradiated by the usual stacked-foil technique
on the external proton beam of the isochronous cyclotron U-120M at the Nuclear
Physics Institute at \v{R}e\v{z} near Prague. Special attention was paid to the
excitation functions of long-lived radionuclides. The measured data were
compared with TENDL-2010 library data (TALYS code).

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.5185