VALENCE CAPTURE MECHANISM IN RESONANCE NEUTRON-CAPTURE BY C-13

The partial radiation widths of three (two electric dipole and one electric quadrupole) primary transitions in C14, subsequent to neutron capture by the 153-keV, 2+ resonance in C13, have been remeasured. Both electric dipole transitions, accounting for more than 80% of the total radiation width, can be explained as valence neutron transitions. The deduced total radiation width of 0.215-0.035+0.084 eV for this resonance disagrees with the previous value of 2.4±0.9 eV and significantly affects the production of A14 nuclei in primordial nucleosynthesis. © 1990 The American Physical Society.