Abstract
Searches for nuclear-stable multineutrons among products originating from the fission of 238U nuclei that is induced by 62-MeV alpha particles were performed by the activation method. The reaction involving the transfer of four neutrons and occurring on the isotope 88Sr, 88Sr(x n, (x − 4) n)92Sr→92Y, was used to identify nuclear-stable multineutrons. A line at the energy of E = 1384 keV was found in the measured gamma-ray spectra of irradiated samples. This line, together with the measured time dependence of the decrease in its activity, is indicative of the formation of the beta-active nucleus 92Sr. This result was reproduced in repeated measurements. It suggests the possible existence of nuclear-stable multineutrons (x n) for x ≥ 6. The differential cross section for the x n yield at an angle of 30° in the alpha-particle-induced fission of 238U was about 6 × 10−2 mb/sr.
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Original Russian Text © B.G. Novatsky, E.Yu. Nikolsky, S.B. Sakuta, D.N. Stepanov, 2012, published in Pis’ma v Zhurnal Eksperimental’noi i Teoreticheskoi Fiziki, 2012, Vol. 96, No. 5, pp. 310–314.
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Novatsky, B.G., Nikolsky, E.Y., Sakuta, S.B. et al. Possible observation of light neutron nuclei in the alpha-particle-induced fission of 238U. Jetp Lett. 96, 280–284 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0021364012170110
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0021364012170110