Photoneutron Cross Sections of Astrophysical Significance

Presented in this paper are some of the latest measurements of photoneutron cross sections of direct relevance to the p‐process nucleosynthesis in the context of the statistical model of compound nuclear reactions. We discuss the p‐process origin of the rarest nuclide and the only naturally occurring isomer ¹⁸⁰Ta^m, a serious underproduction problem of ¹³⁸La, and the nuclear level density of ¹⁸⁰Ta determined from the partial photoneutron cross section for ¹⁸⁰Ta^m. As the laser‐Compton scattering γ ray at AIST has enabled one to directly determine (γ,n) cross sections, the blackbody synchrotron radiation to be produced by a ten‐Tesla superconducting wiggler at SPring‐8 is expected to be a promising tool for exploring (γ,α) and (γ,p) reactions in the future.