The probleem of inelastic scattering of low-energy neutrons on the 152Sm nucleus

A study of neutron inelastic scattering by the 152Sm nucleus at incident energies of 2.47 and 2.75 MeV using the coupled channel method has been made. Consideration is done of the 2+(0.122 MeV), 4+(0.366 MeV), and 2+(1.086 MeV) excited states. It is shown that in this energy range the process may be described satisfactorily considering 152Sm as a deformed nucleus with non-axial symmetry and including the quadrupole and hexadecapole deformations. The scattering process through the compound nucleus is calculated according to the Hauser-Feshbach formula with width fluctuation correction. It is shown that the presence of direct excitation process is partly due to the nonaxiality of 152Sm