Neutron productions in the fragmentation of relativistic heavy nuclei and formation of a beam of high-energy neutrons

Abstract

The production of quasimonoenergetic high-energy neutrons at zero angle (0°) in the spallation of relativistic heavy nuclei is discussed by considering the example of the interaction of lead nuclei with light target nuclei. It is shown that this process can be used to generate a beam of high-energy neutrons at existing heavy ion accelerators. At the same time, itmay lead to the appearance of a parasitic neutron beam because of the interaction of the heavy-ion beam used with beam line and experimental setup materials.