neutron cross section


neutron cross section

[′nü‚trän ′krȯs ‚sek·shən] (nuclear physics) A measure of the probability that an interaction of a given kind will take place between a nucleus and an incident neutron; it is an area such that the number of interactions which occur in a sample exposed to a beam of neutrons is equal to the product of the number of nuclei in the sample and the number of neutrons in the beam that would pass through this area if their velocities were perpendicular to it.