Imaging neutron capture cross sections: i-TED proof-of-concept and future prospects based on Machine-Learning techniques

i-TED is an innovative detection system which exploits Compton imaging techniques to achieve a superior signal-to-background ratio in (n,gamma) cross-section measurements using time-of-flight technique. This work presents the first experimental validation of the i-TED apparatus for high-resolution time-of-flight experiments and demonstrates for the first time the concept proposed for background rejection. To this aim, the 197Au(n,gamma) and 56Fe(n,gamma) reactions were studied at CERN n_TOF using an i-TED demonstrator based on three position-sensitive detectors. Two C6D6 detectors were also used to benchmark the performance of i-TED. The i-TED prototype built for this study shows a factor of ~3 higher detection sensitivity than state-of-the-art C6D6 detectors in the 10 keV neutron-energy region of astrophysical interest. This paper explores also the perspectives of further enhancement in performance attainable with the final i-TED array consisting of twenty position-sensitive detectors and new analysis methodologies based on Machine-Learning techniques.

BABIANO-SUAREZ V.;  LERENDEGUI-MARCO J.;  BALIBREA-CORREA J.;  CABALLERO L.;  CALVO D.;  LADARESCU I.;  REAL D.;  DOMINGO-PARDO C.;  CALVINO F.;  CASANOVAS A.;  TARIFENO-SALDIVIA A.;  ALCAYNE V.;  GUERRERO C.;  MILLAN-CALLADO M. A.;  RODRIGUEZ-GONZALEZ T;  BARBAGALLO M;  ABERLE O.;  AMADUCCI S.;  ANDRZEJEWSKI J.;  AUDOUIN L.;  BACAK M.;  BENNETT S;  BERTHOUMIEUX E.;  BILLOWES J.;  BOSNAR D.;  BROWN S;  BUSSO M.;  CAAMANO M.;  CALVIANI M.;  CANO-OTT D.;  CERUTTI F.;  CHIAVERI E.;  COLONNA N.;  CORTÉS G. P.;  CORTES-GIRALDO M. A.;  COSENTINO Luigi;  CRISTALLO S.;  DAMONE L.;  DAVIES P.;  DIAKAKI M.;  DIETZ M.;  DRESSLER R.;  DUCASSE Q;  DUPONT E.;  DURAN I.;  ELEME Z.;  FERNÁNDEZ-DOMÍNGEZ B.;  FERRARI A.;  FINOCCHIARO Paolo;  FURMAN V.;  GÖBEL K.;  GARG R.;  GAWLIK A.;  GILARDONI S.;  GONCALVES I. F.;  GONZÁLEZ-ROMERO E.;  GUNSING F.;  HARADA H.;  HEINITZ S.;  HEYSE Jan;  JENKINS D. G.;  JUNGHANS A. R.;  KAEPPELER F.;  KADI Y.;  KIMURA A.;  KNAPOVA I.;  KOKKORIS M.;  KOPATCH Y.;  KRTIČKA M.;  KURTULGIL D.;  LEDERER-WOODS Claudia;  LEEB H.;  LONSDALE S.;  MACINA D.;  MANNA A;  MARTÍNEZ T.;  MASI A.;  MASSIMI C.;  MASTINU P.;  MASTROMARCO M.;  MAUGERI E.;  MAZZONE A.;  MENDOZA E.;  MENGONI A.;  MICHALOPOULOU V.;  MILAZZO P.M.;  MINGRONE F.;  MORENO-SOTO J.;  MUSUMARRA A.;  NEGRET A.;  OGALLAR F.;  OPREA A.;  PATRONIS N.;  PAVLIK A.;  PERKOWSKI J.;  PERSANTI L.;  PETRONE C.;  PIROVANO Elisa;  PORRAS I.;  PRAENA J.;  QUESADA J.;  RAMOS-DOVAL D.;  RAUSCHER T.;  REIFARTH R.;  ROCHMAN D.;  RUBBIA C.;  SABATE-GILARTE M;  SAXENA A.;  SCHILLEBEECKX Peter;  SCHUMANN D.;  SEKHAR A. G.;  SMITH A. G.;  SOSNIN N. V.;  SPRUNG P.;  STAMATOPOULOS A.;  TAGLIENTE G.;  TAIN J.L.;  TASSAN-GOT L.;  THOMAS Th.;  TORRES-SÁNCHEZ P.;  TSINGANIS A.;  ULRICH J.;  URLASS S.;  VALENTA S.;  VANNINI G.;  VARIALE V.;  VAZ P.;  VENTURA A.;  VESCOVI D.;  VLACHOUDIS V.;  VLASTOU R.;  WALLNER A.;  WOODS P. J.;  WRIGHT T. J.;  ZUGEC P.; 

2021-11-04

SPRINGER

JRC126393

1434-6001 (online),   

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140%2Fepja%2Fs10050-021-00507-7,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC126393,   

10.1140/epja/s10050-021-00507-7 (online),