Evaluation of the β-delayed neutron emission probability data and a study of their systematics

Study of neutron rich nuclei is in the forefront of present day nuclear physics research. Several experimental facilities are being built to study the properties of the neutron rich nuclei. The study of the decay properties and subsequently, the excited states produced by the decay of the neutron rich nuclei are most common and one of the important aspects. It may so happen that after the b-decay of the neutron rich parent nucleus, the populated excited states lie above the neutron separation energy of the daughter. In that case, the daughter nucleus emits a neutron and populates the states of the neighbouring isotope of the daughter. The neutron, thus emitted, is called the b-delayed neutron (bDN). This process may continue to emit one or more neutrons following a b-decay, depending on the Q-value and the neutron separation energy (Sn). The theoretical and experimental investigation to obtain the probability of emission of i number of b-delayed neutrons, P_in (i = 1, 2, 3) is one of the important topics of present day research. Such process has practical implication in several fields, such as r-process nucleosynthesis network calculations, reactor operation, and nuclear fuel post processing, etc. In order to generate a database of the measured quantities of this process, a worldwide collaboration has been developed. As a part of that collaboration, we have evaluated the Pin data of the nuclei with Z = 41 - 48 and have carried out a systematic study of the data