https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-022-00876-7
Regular Article – Experimental Physics
Advances and new ideas for neutron-capture astrophysics experiments at CERN n_TOF
1
Instituto de Física Corpuscular, CSIC—Universidad de Valencia, Spain
2
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland
3
Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Madrid, Spain
4
Laboratori Nazionali di Pavia, Pavia, Italy
5
Istituto Nazionali di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Catania, Italy
6
University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
7
University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
8
CEA Irfu, Université Paris-Saclay, Paris, France
9
Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Magurele, Romania
10
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
11
University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago De Compostela, Spain
12
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Catalonia, Spain
13
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, Rome, Italy
14
Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Trieste, Italy
15
National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
16
Laboratori Nazionali di Torino, Turin, Italy
17
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari, Bari, Italy
18
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
19
Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
20
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia, Perugia, Italy
21
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Teramo, Teramo, Italy
22
Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
23
Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal
24
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig, Germany
25
Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), Villigen, Switzerland
26
University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
27
Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie (ENEA), Bologna, Italy
28
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
29
University of Granada, Granada, Spain
30
Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Frascati, Italy
31
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Geel, Belgium
32
University of York, York, United Kingdom
33
TU Wien, Atominstitut, Wien, Austria
34
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Dresden, Germany
35
Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Tokai-Mura, Japan
36
Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
37
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
38
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
39
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Legnaro, Italy
40
Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Bari, Bari, Italy
41
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari, Italy
42
Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
43
Institut Laue Langevin, Grenoble, France
44
Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Catania, Catania, Italy
45
Leibniz-Institut für Festkörper- und Werkstoffforschung Dresden (IFW) e.V., Dresden, Germany
Received:
4
August
2022
Accepted:
31
October
2022
Published online:
26
January
2023
This article presents a few selected developments and future ideas related to the measurement of data of astrophysical interest at CERN n_TOF. The MC-aided analysis methodology for the use of low-efficiency radiation detectors in time-of-flight neutron-capture measurements is discussed, with particular emphasis on the systematic accuracy. Several recent instrumental advances are also presented, such as the development of total-energy detectors with
-ray imaging capability for background suppression, and the development of an array of small-volume organic scintillators aimed at exploiting the high instantaneous neutron-flux of EAR2. Finally, astrophysics prospects related to the intermediate i neutron-capture process of nucleosynthesis are discussed in the context of the new NEAR activation area.
F. Käppeler and F. Murtas Deceased.
© The Author(s) 2023
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