Parity nonconservation in neutron resonances in 232Th

Stephenson S. L.

Bowman J. D.

Crawford B. E.

Delheij P. P. J.

Frankle C. M.

Iinuma Masataka

Knudson J. N.

Lowie L. Y.

Masaike Akira

Matsuda Yasuyuki

Mitchell G. E.

Penttilä S. I.

Postma H.

Roberson N. R.

Seestrom S. J.

Sharapov E. I.

Yen Y.-F.

Yuan V.W.

Physical Review C - Nuclear Physics

Parity nonconservation (PNC) was measured for 24 p-wave resonances from 8 to 300 eV in 232Th by measuring the helicity dependence of the total neutron cross section for epithermal neutrons with an improved experimental system. Ten resonances show statistically significant parity violation. For these ten resonances the analyzing powers are all positive, thus confirming the previously observed sign correlation. The data are fit to the sum of two terms, a constant asymmetry and a fluctuating asymmetry. With this ansatz the root-mean-square PNC matrix element M = 1.12 meV, which corresponds to a weak spreading width Γw = 4.7× 10-7 eV. For the neighboring nuclide 238U there is no constant offset, suggesting that the sign correlation is specific to 232Th.

eng

American Physical Society

Copyright (c) 1998 The American Physical Society.

[ISSN] 0556-2813

[DOI] 10.1103/PhysRevC.58.1236

[NCID] AA00773613

[DOI] http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.58.1236