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Energy-differential measurement of the Cnat(n,p) and Cnat(n,d) reactions at the n_TOF facility at CERN

P. Žugec1,*, N. Colonna2, D. Rochman3, M. Barbagallo2,4, J. Andrzejewski5, J. Perkowski5, A. Ventura6, D. Bosnar1, A. Gawlik-Ramięga5 et al. (The n_TOF Collaboration)

A. Gawlik-Ramięga5, M. Sabaté-Gilarte4,7, M. Bacak4,8,9, F. Mingrone4, E. Chiaveri10,4, O. Aberle4, V. Alcayne11, S. Amaducci12,13, L. Audouin14, V. Babiano-Suarez15, S. Bennett10, E. Berthoumieux9, J. Billowes10, A. Brown16, M. Busso17,18, M. Caamaño19, L. Caballero-Ontanaya15, F. Calviño20, M. Calviani4, D. Cano-Ott11, A. Casanovas20, F. Cerutti4, G. Cortés20, M. A. Cortés-Giraldo7, L. Cosentino12, S. Cristallo17,21, L. A. Damone2,22, P. J. Davies10, M. Diakaki23,4, M. Dietz24, C. Domingo-Pardo15, R. Dressler3, Q. Ducasse25, E. Dupont9, I. Durán19, Z. Eleme26, B. Fernández-Domínguez19, A. Ferrari4, P. Finocchiaro12, V. Furman27, K. Göbel28, R. Garg24, S. Gilardoni4, I. F. Gonçalves29, E. González-Romero11, C. Guerrero7, F. Gunsing9, H. Harada30, S. Heinitz3, J. Heyse31, D. G. Jenkins16, A. Junghans32, F. Käppeler33, Y. Kadi4, A. Kimura30, I. Knapová34, M. Kokkoris23, Y. Kopatch27, M. Krtička34, D. Kurtulgil28, I. Ladarescu15, C. Lederer-Woods24, H. Leeb8, J. Lerendegui-Marco7, S. J. Lonsdale24, D. Macina4, A. Manna35,6, T. Martínez11, A. Masi4, C. Massimi35,6, P. Mastinu36, M. Mastromarco4, E. A. Maugeri3, A. Mazzone2,37, E. Mendoza11, A. Mengoni38, V. Michalopoulou23,4, P. M. Milazzo39, J. Moreno-Soto9, A. Musumarra12,13, A. Negret40, R. Nolte25, F. Ogállar41, A. Oprea40, N. Patronis26, A. Pavlik42, G. Perfetto2, C. Petrone40, L. Piersanti17,2,21, E. Pirovano25, I. Porras41, J. Praena41, J. M. Quesada7, D. Ramos-Doval14, T. Rauscher43,44, R. Reifarth28, Y. Romanets29, C. Rubbia4, A. Saxena45, P. Schillebeeckx31, D. Schumann3, A. Sekhar10, A. G. Smith10, N. V. Sosnin10, P. Sprung3, A. Stamatopoulos23, G. Tagliente2, J. L. Tain15, A. Tarifeño-Saldivia20, L. Tassan-Got14,23,4, Th. Thomas28, P. Torres-Sánchez41, A. Tsinganis4, J. Ulrich3, S. Urlass32,4, S. Valenta34, G. Vannini35,6, V. Variale2, P. Vaz29, D. Vescovi17,21, V. Vlachoudis4, R. Vlastou23, A. Wallner46, P. J. Woods24, and T. Wright10 (The n_TOF Collaboration)

  • 1Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
  • 2Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari, Italy
  • 3Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), Villigen, Switzerland
  • 4European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland
  • 5University of Lodz, Poland
  • 6Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna, Italy
  • 7Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
  • 8TU Wien, Atominstitut, Stadionallee 2, 1020 Wien, Austria
  • 9CEA Irfu, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
  • 10University of Manchester, United Kingdom
  • 11Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Spain
  • 12INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Catania, Italy
  • 13Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Catania, Italy
  • 14Institut de Physique Nucléaire, CNRS-IN2P3, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91406 Orsay Cedex, France
  • 15Instituto de Física Corpuscular, CSIC–Universidad de Valencia, Spain
  • 16University of York, United Kingdom
  • 17Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia, Italy
  • 18Dipartimento di Fisica e Geologia, Università di Perugia, Italy
  • 19University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
  • 20Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain
  • 21Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica–Osservatorio Astronomico di Teramo, Italy
  • 22Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Bari, Italy
  • 23National Technical University of Athens, Greece
  • 24School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
  • 25Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany
  • 26University of Ioannina, Greece
  • 27Affiliated with an Institute or an International Laboratory Covered by a Cooperation Agreement with CERN
  • 28Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
  • 29Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 30Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Tokai-Mura, Japan
  • 31European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Geel, Retieseweg 111, B-2440 Geel, Belgium
  • 32Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany
  • 33Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Campus North, IKP, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 34Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
  • 35Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Italy
  • 36Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Legnaro, Italy
  • 37Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari, Italy
  • 38Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie (ENEA), Bologna, Italy
  • 39Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, Italy
  • 40Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Romania
  • 41University of Granada, Spain
  • 42University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, Vienna, Austria
  • 43Department of Physics, University of Basel, Switzerland
  • 44Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
  • 45Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), India
  • 46Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

  • *Contact author: pzugec@phy.hr
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Phys. Rev. C 113, 044621 – Published 24 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/fkfd-ctqq

Abstract

Energy-differential cross section of the Cnat(n,p) and Cnat(n,d) reactions was measured at the neutron time-of-flight facility n_TOF at CERN. The measurement was performed in the first experimental area (EAR1; flight path of 182.5 m). Two position-sensitive ΔE−E silicon telescopes were used. Two naturally occurring carbon isotopes, C12 and C13, contribute to the reactions on natural carbon, with the (n,p) reaction threshold at 13.7 MeV and the (n,d) threshold at 14.9 MeV (determined by the C12 isotope for both reactions). This paper provides the details of the analysis leading to the final results published previously as a Letter. The cross-section results are reported up to 25 MeV. During the data analysis the population of the excited states in the daughter nuclei B11, B12, and B13 had to be considered, requiring the adoption of the branching ratios and angular distributions of the emitted particles from an external source of information. talys-2.0 calculations were used as the main source and an in-depth analysis of the model-related uncertainties was performed. The n_TOF results are largely inconsistent with the major evaluation libraries. On the other hand, an unexpected agreement is found with talys-2.0 calculations. Specifically, the obtained cross section for the (n,p) reaction is significantly higher than in the available evaluations, fully supporting the earlier finding from an integral measurement at n_TOF.

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Phys. Rev. C 113, 044621– Published 24 April, 2026
  • Received 27 October 2025
  • Revised 11 February 2026
  • Accepted 30 March 2026
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