Extreme nonstatistical effects in γ decay of 95Mo neutron resonances

Abstract

We demonstrate that high-quality total radiation width (Γγ) data are a virtually untapped resource for testing and improving nuclear models. To this end, we obtained unprecedentedly large sets of Γγ values for all six s- and p-wave Jπ values for 95Mo neutron resonances. We show that Γγ distributions simulated in the framework of the nuclear statistical model are in sharp disagreement with the data. Simulations modified to include doorway effects resulted in much better agreement. These results call into question the reliability of the nuclear statistical model. © 2013 American Physical Society