Determination of the total photo-absorption cross section of 197Au from () reaction cross sections

Abstract Cross sections for the reactions 197Au ( γ, ℩ n ) (x ⩽ 12) have been measured for bremsstrahlung end-point energies in the range 60–340 MeV. From these dominant cross sections, the total photon absorption cross section is determined using a cascade-evaporation calculation to account for the missing reaction channels. The enhancement factor for the classical E1 sum rule is found to be 0.93 ± 0.10.