nuclear cross section
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nuclear cross section
[′nü·klē·ər ′krȯs ‚sek·shən] (nuclear physics)
A measure of the probability for a reaction to occur between a nucleus and a particle; it is an area such that the number of reactions which occur in a sample exposed to a beam of particles equals the product of the number of nuclei in the sample and the number of incident particles which would pass through this area if their velocities were perpendicular to it.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
References in periodicals archive
We have evaluated the neutron induced
nuclear cross section data of zirconium isotopes for considerable energy range 8.2-20.6MeV.
It also introduced the concept of
nuclear cross section: the greater the cross section of a particular type of nucleus, the greater the likelihood of its absorbing a neutron.
The culmination of the work, after better data on
nuclear cross sections became available, was the famous 1957 paper on nucleo-synthesis coauthored with Geoffrey and Margaret Burbidge and William Fowler.
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