From nuclear astrophysics to fundamental nuclear physics: challenging experimental approaches at n_TOF (CERN)

The n_TOF installation at CERN is one of the leading neutron facilities worldwide undergoing a major update of the neutron spallation source. The update will provide improved n-TOF resolution in the experimental areas and the possibility to perform neutron cross section measurements at very high neutron flux (NEAR-Station). The renewed capabilities of the facility must be supported by smart and non-conventional experimental approaches. In this framework two examples will be reported. The first one concerns the measurement of a key reaction channel involved in Primordial Nucleosynthesis: the 7Be(n, α), by using a radioactive 7Be target. The second one provides a state-of-the-art scenario for the n-n scattering length measurement. This will be performed by neutron-deuteron (n-d) breakup three-body reaction. In this case, the envisaged experimental setup will provide a complete three-body kinematic reconstruction. By these important physics cases we are crossing the technological frontiers for charged particle and neutron detection.

QCD Analysis of Leading-Neutron Production at HERA: Determination of Neutron Fracture Functions

The last two decades have seen a growing trend towards the experimental efforts at the electron-proton collider HERA in which have collected high precision data on the spectrum of leading neutron (LN) and leading-proton (LP) carrying a large fraction of the proton’s energy. In our recent study [Phys. Rev. D 95 (2017), 074011], we have proposed an approach based on the Fractures Functions (FF) formalism and have extracted the neutron Fracture Functions (neutron FFs) from a global QCD analysis of LN production data measured by H1 and ZEUS collaborations at HERA. We have shown that considering the approach based on the framework of Fracture Functions, one could phenomenologically parametrize the neutron FFs at the input scale. In order to access the uncertainties for the obtained neutron FFs as well as the LN structure functions and cross section, associated with the uncertainties in the data, we have made an extensive use of the “Hessian method”. Our theory predictions based on the obtained neutron FFs are in satisfactory agreement with all LN data analyzed, for a wide range of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text].