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Influence of $^{13}$C on proton-induced $^{13}$N production from natural carbon target

Tomasz Matulewicz, Izabela Skwira-Chalot

TL;DR

This work addresses an apparent discrepancy in cross sections for the radiative capture reaction $^{12}$C(p,$\gamma$)$^{13}$N on natural carbon at proton energies near and above the $^{13}$C(p,n)$^{13}$N threshold. It argues that the enhanced yields arise from the endothermic $^{13}$C(p,n)$^{13}$N channel and applies the isotopic abundance correction $f_{13}=1.06\%$ to relate natural-carbon data to measurements on isotopically enriched targets. The corrected results align with $^{13}$C(p,n)$^{13}$N measurements and with early radiative-capture data on enriched $^{12}$C, supporting a dual-channel interpretation and highlighting the role of isotopic composition in cross-section extraction. The findings have implications for astrophysical reaction rates and proton-therapy dosimetry, and they motivate more high-resolution, isotope-aware measurements of proton-induced reactions on carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopes.

Abstract

Two recent measurements of $^{12}$C(p,$γ$)$^{13}$N reaction on natural carbon were performed by detecting $β^+$ decay of $^{13}$N residue. It is argued that the measurements at energies above the $^{13}$C(p,n)$^{13}$N reaction threshold of 3.24 MeV proton kinetic energy can be interpreted as a consequence of 1.06\% admixture of $^{13}$C isotope in natural carbon, as the cross section for $^{13}$N production raised by 3 orders of magnitude with respect to the measurements of $^{12}$C(p,$γ$)$^{13}$N at lower energies.

Influence of $^{13}$C on proton-induced $^{13}$N production from natural carbon target

TL;DR

This work addresses an apparent discrepancy in cross sections for the radiative capture reaction C(p,)N on natural carbon at proton energies near and above the C(p,n)N threshold. It argues that the enhanced yields arise from the endothermic C(p,n)N channel and applies the isotopic abundance correction to relate natural-carbon data to measurements on isotopically enriched targets. The corrected results align with C(p,n)N measurements and with early radiative-capture data on enriched C, supporting a dual-channel interpretation and highlighting the role of isotopic composition in cross-section extraction. The findings have implications for astrophysical reaction rates and proton-therapy dosimetry, and they motivate more high-resolution, isotope-aware measurements of proton-induced reactions on carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopes.

Abstract

Two recent measurements of C(p,)N reaction on natural carbon were performed by detecting decay of N residue. It is argued that the measurements at energies above the C(p,n)N reaction threshold of 3.24 MeV proton kinetic energy can be interpreted as a consequence of 1.06\% admixture of C isotope in natural carbon, as the cross section for N production raised by 3 orders of magnitude with respect to the measurements of C(p,)N at lower energies.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 3 sections, 1 figure, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Analysis
  3. Conclusions

Figures (1)

  • Figure 1: The cross section of $^{13}$C(p,n)$^{13}$N reaction from the measurements with isotopically enriched $^{13}$C targets kitwanga1989productionfirouzbakht1991measurement. The production of $^{13}$N observed in the measurements of Rodrıguez-González et al. rodriguez2022production is scaled with the 1.06% abundance of $^{13}$C nuclei in the natural carbon target.