Study of the uncertainty quantification of the \(^{121}\)Sb(\(n,\gamma\))\(^{122}\)Sb reaction

Abstract

The reaction cross-sections for the \(^{121}\)Sb(\(n,\gamma\))\(^{122}\)Sb reaction were determined at 1.66, 2.65, and 3.05 MeV. The experiment was conducted using the neutron activation technique followed by the offline \(\gamma\)-ray spectrometry. The neutrons were generated using the \(^{7}\)Li(\(p,n)^{7}\)Be reaction, and the reaction cross-section for \(^{121}\)Sb(\(n,\gamma\))\(^{122}\)Sb was measured with respect to the \(^{115}\)In(\(n,n'\gamma\))\(^{115}\)In\(^{m}\) monitor reaction cross-section. Wood–Saxon phenomenological optical model potentials (OMP) were used to calculate the uncertainties of the theoretical calculation for the \(^{121}\)Sb(\(n,\gamma\))\(^{122}\)Sb reaction cross-section. The measured reaction cross-section data are compared to the existing data available in the EXFOR database. Additionally, the data are compared to the evaluated data from ENDF/B-VIII.0 and JEFF-3.1/A. TALYS-1.96 nuclear code is used for the theoretical calculations. The measured cross-sections are given along with their uncertainties and covariance matrices. In this work, the theoretical cross-section uncertainties have been estimated using the uncertainties in the level density and optical model parameters.