I was at my office at nine this morning, and after a quick discussion with Gry (with whom I share my office), I realised today has to be reading day. I need to read stuff - and a lot of it.
My biggest problem right now is that I need to correct my data for neutrons:
The thing is that we have different kinds of detectors, and one of these detectors measure all the gamma radiation that comes when the nucleus fission. The problem is that when a nucleus fissions, it will also send out neutrons (in addition to gamma radiation), and the detectors that is really there for the gamma radiation will also measure the neutrons, and it can't see the difference between these two (the neutrons and the gammas). So when I have a nice plot from the detector that's only supposed to measure gammas, it's also showing me neutrons, and they all look the same. Therefore I need to (try) to make a correction to these plots, so that they're more less telling the truth about the gammas from fission - this time I don't care about the neutrons, except I want them to go away 😉 (Dear neutron, please forgive me, you are still my favorite particle <3)
Now I have this gut feeling that I can do this correction in a straight forward and simple way (I've actually already done it), but I need to read more what other people say about the subject to (scientifically) justify the way I do this. It's not exactly enough to say well I have this gut feeling so this is right, I'm kind of sure about it...that's not science 😉
Gut feelings can be helpful though; they help you to get a starting point, and know where to start looking. Hopefully, by the end of this day, I've justified my choice, and can defend it in the article (number three!) and the talk in Bruges!
Most of today will be spent on reading "Energy and Isotope Dependence of Neutron Multiplicity Distributions", and "The prompt response of bismuth germanate and NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors to fast neutrons". These to articles will hopefully tell me more about how our kind of detectors (NaI(Tl)) see neutrons, and what the shape of the neutron spectrum looks like *fingers crossed*.
Maybe two articles don't seem like much, but trust me, reading this is though, and if I'm going to read all of it thoroughly, it will take time...
This is the gamma spectrum that isn't just gammas, but also some neutrons - probably around 20% of this thing. I made it three dimensional yesterday- isn't it pretty? <3<3<3
Ok, now back to my articles; I think I'll start with the one about multiplicities 🙂
Wishing you all a happy day <3