Energy and Angular Distributions of Neutrons from the Interaction of 14.1-Mev Neutrons with Zirconium

The distributions in energy and angle of the neutrons emitted from the interaction of 14.1-Mev neutrons with zirconium have been obtained by using nuclear emulsion plates as detectors. The energy distribution of the low-energy nonelastic neutrons is Maxwellian. The angular distribution of the low-energy nonelastic neutrons (0.5-4.0 Mev) is found to be isotropic; whereas, that of the high-energy nonelastic neutrons (4.0-12.0 Mev) is peaked in the forward direction. The significance of these results in terms of the statistical model of the nucleus is discussed.