Nuclear level densities and γ-ray strength functions of ^120,124Sn and their application in astrophysics

Nuclear level densities (NLDs) and γ-ray strength functions (GSFs)of 120;124Sn have been extracted with the Oslo method and additionally constrained with the novel Shape method. The GSFs were found to be in excellent agreement with the strengths from the inelastic relativistic proton scattering experiment. This comparison suggests the validity of the Brink-Axel hypothesisused as one of the key assumptions in astrophysical calculations. The extracted NLDs and GSFs were further used as experimental inputs to constrain the Maxwellian-averaged cross sections (MACS) for the radiative neutron capture process 119;123Sn (n, γ)120;124Sn using the the nuclear reaction code TALYS.