Microscopic folding model analysis of the radiative $(n,\gamma)$ reactions near the $Z=28$ shell-closure and the weak s-process

Abstract

The radiative thermal neutron capture cross sections over the range of thermal energies from 1 keV to 1 MeV are studied in statistical Hauser-Feshbach formalism. The optical model potential is constructed by folding the density dependent M3Y nucleon-nucleon interaction with radial matter densities of target nuclei obtained from relativistic-mean-field (RMF) theory. The standard nuclear reaction code TALYS1.8 is used for calculation of cross sections. The nuclei studied in the present work reside near the $Z=28$ proton shell closure and are of astrophysical interests taking part in p-, s-, and r-process of nucleosynthesis. The Maxwellian-averaged cross-section (MACS) values for energies important for astrophysical applications are presented.