THE NEUTRON CAPTURE 7-RAYS FROM POTASSIUM

Abstract

The capture γ-rays from potassium have been re-examined with greater resolution than was used in previous experiments. The upper end of the spectrum has been carefully studied both with a sample of natural potassium carbonate and with another in which the potassium was enriched in K40. From a comparison of the spectra two γ-rays with energies of 9.39 ± 0.06 and 8.45 ± 0.02 Mev. are assigned to capture by that isotope. The strong γ-ray at 7.757 ± 0.008 Mev. previously ascribed to the ground state transition in K40 is now found to represent a transition to a low-lying excited state in that nucleus.