Possibility of implementing a nondirect experiment aimed at determining the cross section for nucleon interaction with an excited nucleus

With the aid of experimental data on the level densities in the even-odd tungsten isotopes 183,185,187W as determined in the respective (n, 2ρ) reactions, the ratio of the cross section for the interaction of an excited nucleus with a neutron to its counterpart calculated on the basis of the optical model of the nucleus was obtained from the spectra of evaporated neutrons in the reaction 181Ta(p, n)181W. A significant local increase in this ratio is qualitatively interpreted as that which is due to the possible increase in the penetrability of the nuclear surface for nucleon reaction products because of the effect of phonon-type excitations. Sources of possible nonstandard systematic errors in experimentally determining the level density in an arbitrary nucleus at energies below the nucleon binding energy Bn are analyzed. The extraction of information from the distribution of the intensities of cascades belonging to the nucleon and photon type is simulated. The resulting information may be highly reliable if use is made of the entire body of experimental data on the nucleus under analysis.