Cross sections of proton-induced nuclear reactions on bismuth and lead up to 100 MeV

Abstract

Production cross sections of $^{209}\mathrm{Bi}(p, xn)^{207,206,205,204,203}\mathrm{Po}, ^{209}\mathrm{Bi}(p$, pxn)$^{207,206,205,204,203,202}\mathrm{Bi}$, and $^{\mathrm{nat}}\mathrm{Pb}(p, xn$) $^{206,205,204,203,202,201}\mathrm{Bi}$ reactions were measured to fill the gap in the excitation functions up to 100 MeV as well as to figure out the effects of different nuclear properties on proton-induced reactions including heavy nuclei. The targets were arranged in two different stacks consisting of Bi, Pb, Al, Au foils and Pb plates. The proton beam intensity was determined by the activation analysis method using $^{27}\mathrm{Al}(p,3pn)^{24}\mathrm{Na}, ^{197}\mathrm{Au}(p,pn)^{196}\mathrm{Au}$, and $^{197}\mathrm{Au}(p, p3n)^{194}\mathrm{Au}$ monitor reactions in parallel as well as the Gafchromic film dosimetry method. The activities of produced radionuclei in the foils were measured by the HPGe spectroscopy system. Over 40 new cross sections were measured in the investigated energy range. A satisfactory agreement was observed between the present experimental data and the previously published data. Excitation functions of mentioned reactions were calculated by using the theoretical model based on the latest version of the TALYS code and compared to the new data as well as with other data in the literature. Additionally, the effects of various combinations of the nuclear input parameters of different level density models, optical model potentials, and \ensuremath{\gamma}-ray strength functions were considered. It was concluded that if certain level density models are used, the calculated cross sections could be comparable to the measured data. Furthermore, the effects of optical model potential and \ensuremath{\gamma}-ray strength functions were considerably lower than that of nuclear level densities.