Measurement of thick target neutron yield at 180°for a mercury target induced by 3-GeV protons

Abstract A thick target neutron yield (TTNY) for a mercury target at an angle of 180°from the incident beam direction was measured with the time-of-flight method using a 3-GeV proton beam at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). Comparison of the experimental results with a Monte Carlo particle transport simulation by the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) shows that the default spallation model of PHITS, the Liege intranuclear cascade model version 4.6 coupled with the generalized evaporation model (INCL4.6/GEM) reproduces the measured TTNY fairly well, whereas apparent overestimation is observed for the former default model, the Bertini intranuclear cascade model coupled with GEM (Bertini/GEM). These trends are consistent with the experimental results of neutron-induced reaction rates obtained using indium and niobium activation foils.