Skip to content
Reaction atlas · s-process

Radiative capture · s-process

56Fe(n,γ)57Fe

: iron‑56 + neutron → iron‑57 + gamma rayHow to read the notation

On this page

Iron-56 captures a neutron. It is the first step of the s-process: almost every heavy nucleus the process makes began as an iron seed.

Of all the nuclei heavier than those that stars burn for energy, iron-56 is by far the most abundant, and it was already present in the gas the star formed from. Neutrons released inside the star are captured one by one, first by iron and then by its heavier products, which climb step by step towards lead. How readily iron captures a neutron sets how many seeds are put on the path; together with the number of neutrons available per seed, it decides how far the s-process goes.

Facts

How well known
Measured many times over several decades with neutron beams; newer measurements still refine it.
Live evaluation
No live evaluation yet · Evaluations
Reaction rates
Explore the rates →
Q-value · energy released
7.646 MeV
Thermal energy kT
about 8–90 keV, the energy of a gas at 90–1000 million kelvin
By stellar site
  • 7.8 keVAGB 13C pocket, 90 MK
  • 23 keVAGB thermal pulse, 0.27 GK
  • 26 keVmassive star, core helium burning, 0.3 GK
  • 90 keVmassive star, shell carbon burning, 1.04 GK
Why no Gamow window
A neutron feels no Coulomb barrier, so there is no Gamow window: the relevant energies are those of the thermal distribution itself, around kT.
Kind
Radiative capture

How it was measured

1 measurement, 2014Show the list
  1. 2014

    Neutron beams and time of flight · keV neutrons from 7Li(p,n)7Be

    Capture cross sections of 56Fe and 57Fe by time of flight; Maxwellian-averaged cross sections derived for both isotopes. [1]

Measurements (EXFOR)

Every dataset EXFOR holds for this reaction, drawn by the energies it covers, against the energies a star uses.

83 datasets in 40 EXFOR entries, 1952–2017 · 29 without an energy range, not drawn

Temperature
Lowest energy in EXFOR
7.18 meV
Shcherbakov et al., 1977; Firestone et al., 2017 · σ · 40544.002
Maxwellian averages measured
5 sets
kT from 5 keV to 75 keV
Rate from energies not in EXFOR
< 0.01%
at kT = 7.76 keV, smooth estimate
1 meV100 meV10 eV1 keV100 keV10 MeVEnergy, or kT for a Maxwellian average (keV)kT = 7.76 keVσσ→Eₓdσ/dΩωγMACSother
  • Energies that matter at kT = 7.76 keV
  • Outlined bars are shown but not counted (the rule is under “How these numbers are made”).
  • A diamond is a dataset at a single energy. Bars running off the right edge continue to higher energies.
The datasets of the gap map, by quantity
The datasets of the gap map, by quantity
QuantityDatasetsE_cm range (keV)
σcross section107.18 meV – 13.9 MeV
σ→Eₓpartial124.9 meV – 24.9 meV
dσ/dΩangular distribution28.84 MeV – 19.6 MeV
ωγresonance strength2142.7 eV – 847 keV
MACSMaxwellian average55 keV – 75 keV
…other1524.9 meV – 540 keV
How these numbers are made

Lowest measured energy, everywhere in the data explorer: the lowest centre-of-mass energy at which a dataset in EXFOR measures the reaction itself (cross section, S-factor, angular distribution, yield or resonance strength), judged point by point. A point counts when it is a value, not an upper or lower limit, when it lies at least one standard deviation above zero, and when its energy is physical: at least 1 keV for charged particles, and not below the threshold of an endothermic reaction. Not counted: extrapolated, calculated, evaluated or derived values; superseded, deleted or preliminary data; ratios; a single S-factor value, which in EXFOR is a fit result; and indirect methods (Trojan horse, Coulomb dissociation, ANC, surrogate reactions), recognized from EXFOR's method and analysis codes, their text and the title. Frame and unit errors of EXFOR are corrected first, and values the literature shows to be upper limits are read as limits, from a list that gives the evidence for each. Datasets that reach the same energy within 0.5% are all credited, earliest first. Rate from energies not in EXFOR: the share of the rate integrand at that temperature outside the energy ranges the counted datasets cover (from their lowest measured point to their highest), with a constant S-factor (σ ∝ S(E₀)/E · e^−2πη, so the integrand is e^(−E/kT − 2πη)); for a neutron capture, σ ∝ 1/v. Resonances make the real integrand lumpy, so read it as a smooth baseline.

Details

How well known, in detail: The recommended stellar cross section rests on time-of-flight resonance data collected over several decades and compiled by Bao et al. and KADoNiS; newer measurements refine it.

The stellar rate is given as a Maxwellian-averaged cross section (MACS); the reference compilation of Bao et al. (2000) recommends values at kT = 30 keV, scaled to kT = 5–100 keV, and its successor KADoNiS (Dillmann et al. 2008) updates them. The cross section of the iron isotopes in the keV region is dominated by resolved resonances measured by time of flight. Wang et al. (2014) measured keV-neutron capture on 56Fe and 57Fe by time of flight with a 7Li(p,n)7Be neutron source and derived the MACS of both isotopes. The product 57Fe is stable, as is 58Fe; the chain first meets a radioactive nucleus at 59Fe.

Evaluations

Compilations that combine the data into a recommended rate.

  • —Z. Y. Bao et al., At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 76, 70 (2000) [2]
  • —I. Dillmann et al., Proc. Int. Conf. on Nuclear Data for Science and Technology 2007 (EDP Sciences, 2008), p. 575 [3]

Related reactions

References

  1. 1.
  2. 2.

    Z. Y. Bao, H. Beer, F. Käppeler, F. Voss, K. Wisshak, T. Rauscher

    Neutron cross sections for nucleosynthesis studies

    At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 76, 70 (2000) · 10.1006/adnd.2000.0838

  3. 3.

    I. Dillmann et al.

    New stellar (n,γ) cross sections and the "Karlsruhe Astrophysical Database of Nucleosynthesis in Stars"

    Proc. Int. Conf. on Nuclear Data for Science and Technology 2007 (EDP Sciences, 2008), p. 575 (2008) · 10.1051/ndata:07303 · arXiv:0806.2076

How to cite this page

J. Skowronski, 56Fe(n,γ)57Fe, in Reaction atlas, 2026-10-12, https://jskowron.eu/atlas/56Fe-ng-57Fe.

Cite the date you used; it is the last change to this page.

Something wrong or missing? Report an error (opens a new issue on GitHub) · Suggest a reaction (opens a new issue on GitHub)