Measurement of ⁵⁸co(n,xp) cross sections by a surrogate method

The cross sections for Co-58(n,xp) reactions have been determined in the equivalent neutron energy range of 11.7-16.8 MeV by employing the surrogate reaction ratio method and using the cross-section values for the reference reaction Ni-60(n,xp) from the literature. The transfer reactions Fe-57(Li-6,a) at E-lab = 37 MeV and Co-59(Li-6,a) at E-lab = 33 MeV, are used to populate compound nuclei Co-59* (surrogate of n+Co-58) and Ni-61* (surrogate of n+Ni-60), respectively, at similar excitation energies. The evaporated protons at back-ward angles measured in coincidence with the projectile-like fragment alpha provide the proton decay probabilities of the compound nuclei. The cross sections estimated using the nuclear-reactions-model code TALYs-1.96 are consistent with the experimental Co-58(n,xp) data for the entire neu-tron energy range. However, the predictions of the evaluated data libraries ENDF/B-Viii, JEFF-3.3, JENDL-5, ROsFOND-2010 and TENDL-2019 overestimate the present experimental data, indicating the necessity to improve the model parameters of the data libraries for this reaction.