Cross section for inelastic neutron ``acceleration'' by178Hfm2

The scattering of thermal neutrons from isomeric nuclei may include events in which the outgoing neutrons have increased kinetic energy. This process has been called inelastic neutron acceleration, or INNA, and occurs when the final nucleus, after emission of the neutron, is left in a state with lower energy than that of the isomer. The result, therefore, is an induced depletion of the isomer to the ground state. A cascade of several $\ensuremath{\gamma}$'s must accompany the neutron emission to release the high angular momentum of the initial isomeric state. INNA was previously observed in a few cases, and the measured cross sections were only in modest agreement with theoretical estimates. The most recent measurement of an INNA cross section was ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{\mathrm{INNA}}=258\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}58 \mathrm{b}$ for neutron scattering by $^{177}\mathrm{Lu}$${}^{m}$. In the present work, an INNA cross section of ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{\mathrm{INNA}}=168 \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 33 \mathrm{b}$ was deduced from measurements of the total burnup of the high-spin, four-quasiparticle isomer $^{178}\mathrm{Hf}$${}^{m2}$ during irradiation by thermal neutrons. Statistical estimates for the probability of different reaction channels past neutron absorption were used in the analysis, and the deduced ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{\mathrm{INNA}}$ was compared to the theoretically predicted cross section.