On the Cross Section of Heavy Nuclei for Slow Neutrons

The cross section for slow neutrons is computed with the statistical model of the nucleus and neutron-proton interaction of the Majorana form. The constants in the potential are taken from Feenberg's calculations on the binding energies of light nuclei. It is rather surprising that the scattering problem is reducible to one particle form despite the fact that the Majorana operators permute the coordinates of neutrons and protons. The formulas for the cross section are applicable even when there is neutron-neutron interaction, as suggested by L. Young, provided a simple change is made in the constants. It is shown that the anomalously large cross sections in Cd and Hg cannot be interpreted on the basis of an additional node of the neutron's wave function within the nucleus for Hg as compared with Cd.