Radioactivity Induced by Neutrons: a Thermodynamic Approach to Radiative Capture

Abstract

When Enrico Fermi discovered slow neutrons, he accounted for their great efficiency in inducing radioactivity by merely mentioning the well-known scattering cross-section between neutrons and protons. He did not refer to capture cross-section, at that early stage. It is put forward that a thermodynamic approach to neutron-proton radiative capture then widely debated might underlie his early accounts. Fermi had already met with a similar approach, and repeatedly used it.