Nuclear temperature measurements with helium isotopes

Abstract

Temperatures extracted with the family of (3He, 4He) isotope ratio thermometers, THe, have been studied and cross-checked with temperatures, T(4He∗) constructed from excited and ground state populations of 4He. Empirical correction factors provide baseline corrections for sequential decay effects for THe<4.5 MeV, independent of projectile, target and incident energies. After corrections for fluctuations due to sequential decay, statistical calculations predict that THe and T(4He∗) should agree.