Neutron production under the effect of high-energy nucleus beam

The Monte Carlo method is used to simulate the process of alpha and 12C beam transport in a fissionable target at the energy of 1 GeV per a nucleon. Calculational results are compared with corresponding data for proton and deuteron beams. It is shown that due to the favourable relationship between average ionization energy losses of incident nucleus and mean energy of interaction with target nuclei, the energy cost of a neutron produced by a heavy ion is markedly higher than in the case of using proton or deuteron beams. At that it drops with nucleus mass increase if the charges of compared nuclei remain constant