Measurement of pion induced neutron-production double-differential cross sections on Fe and Pb at 870 MeV and 2.1 GeV

Neutron-production double-differential cross sections for 870 MeV π⁺ and π^- and 2.1 GeV π⁺ mesons incident on iron and lead targets were measured with NE213 liquid scintillators by time-of-flight technique. NE213 liquid scintillators 12.7 cm in diameter and 12.7 cm thick were placed in directions of 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150°. The typical flight path length was 1.5 m. Neutron detection efficiencies were evaluated by calculation results of SCINFUL and CECIL codes. The experimental results were compared with JAERI quantum molecular dynamics code. For the meson incident reactions, adoption of NN in-medium effects was slightly useful for reproducing 870 MeV π⁺-incident neutron yields at neutron energies of 10-30 MeV, as was the case for proton incident reactions. The π^- incident reaction generates more neutrons than π⁺ incidence as the number of nucleons in targets decrease.