Nuclear level densities and γ-ray strength functions of 120,124Sn for astrophysical purposes

Abstract

The nuclear level densities (NLDs) and γ-ray strength functions (GSFs) of 120,124Sn were extracted with the Oslo method, compared and combined with other experimental data to be used as inputs in the TALYS reaction code to constrain the Maxwellian-averaged cross sections (MACS) for the 119,123Sn(n, γ)120,124Sn reactions. For 120Sn, the MACS are in relatively good agreement with the JINA REACLIB, BRUSLIB libraries, while no clear agreement was found for 124Sn. In addition, the pygmy dipole resonance (PDR) was found to contribute with up to ≈ 3 − 8% of the total MACS in these nuclei.