Neutron inelastic scattering, recent experiments and their interpretation

Measurements of inelastic scattering and (n,xn)-cross sections with the (n,xnγ)-technique are performed at the GELINA neutron time-of-flight facility with two arrays consisting of high purity germanium detectors, GAINS and GRAPHEME. These measurements provide important nuclear data for criticality, reactivity and power distribution estimates in current and advanced power reactors, for the development of active material interrogation techniques for security and safeguards, and for background studies supporting the search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in experiments like GERDA, and MAJORANA and for weakly interacting massive particles. Despite significant advances in modeling, such cross sections still pose a major challenge to nuclear theory at the level of the required accuracy. GAINS is an array consisting of 12 large volume detectors used to study inelastic scattering from C to Bi with high incident neutron energy resolution. GRAPHEME using four planar detectors, is tailored for the actinides. Recent and ongoing experimental work for 23Na, T6Ge, W and 232Th is presented. The experimental work is supported and complemented by state-of-the-art nuclear modeling with the well-known TALYS code using both a phenomenological and a microscopic approach, and with resonance analysis for selected nuclides. Advances and open issues will be shown. For carbon interesting complementary results were obtained using single-crystal diamond detectors.