Constraining (n,γ) Cross Sections via Surrogate Measurements With Hyperion

Indirect measurements are necessary to constrain cross sections and reaction rates of nuclear reactions inaccessible for direct measurement. The surrogate method is an indirect technique which uses an alternate reaction channel to populate a short-lived compound nucleus of interest to obtain its γ-decay probabilities. The surrogate analysis uses the experimental γ-decay probabilities in statistical Hauser-Feshbach calculations, which model the desired and surrogate reactions using nuclear level densities, optical model potentials, and γ-strength functions (γSF). Experimental γ-decay probabilities may be used to constrain the γSF models and resulting cross sections. This project involves the surrogate analysis of data taken with Hyperion, a particle-γ detector array. The reactions measured were ^64,70Zn(p,p’), ^64,70Zn(p,d), and ^64,70Zn(p,t) as surrogates for ^{61,62,63,68,69,70}Zn(n,γ). The experiment was performed in fall 2021 at Texas A&M University’s Cyclotron Institute with a proton beam from the K150 cyclotron. Preliminary results presented are the extracted γ-decay probabilities; further analysis is under way to use these results in constraining (n,γ) cross sections.