An exploration into Neutron Sensitivity 

Studying nuclear properties is useful for getting a better understanding of the nuclear processes that occur in stars. These stellar nuclear processes are responsible for forming the known elements in the universe. At the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, the Summing NaI detector, SuN, is used to measure various probabilities of capturing a particle. These reaction probabilities are referred to as capture cross sections. SuN is a large volume scintillating detector made of NaI crystals. It is used to observe gamma rays from various nuclear reactions being studied. However, in addition to the gamma rays, reaction data shows that SuN may also have some neutron sensitivity. This neutron sensitivity is what is being examined in this project. It is being investigated through simulation and comparison with experimental data to determine the neutron information that we can extract from SuN data. Studying the neutron sensitivity of SuN is useful for verifying and developing a deeper understanding of past and future experimental data used for studying stellar processes