Effects of Nuclear Deformation on Neutron Total Cross Sections

Adiabatic coupled-channel calculations were performed for the nonspherical actinide nuclei ²³²Th, ²³³U, ²³⁵U, ²³⁸U, and ²³⁹Pu in the energy range from 3 to 15 MeV. Good agreement between theoretical and experimental results was obtained by explicitly introducing nuclear deformation in the interaction potential, and by using the same optical potential parameters of the spherical potential of Wilmore and Hodgson, except for the absorption depth.