Shell Model Assisted Hauser-Feshbach Description of Beta-Delayed Neutron Emission

Beta-delayed neutron emission, an important but understudied process contributing to the r-processes, has a surprising overproduction of gammas compared to predictions from standard Hauser-Feshbach theory. We seek to understand this discrepancy by enhancing the nuclear structure inputs. Weuse the shell model to model the beta decay process, as well as the nuclear level densities and gamma-ray strength functions, which are inputs of the Hauser-Feshbach description. This will help discriminate between the various possible explanations of the discrepancy: non-statistical beta-decays, enhanced gamma-ray strength functions, or enhanced forbidden beta decay contributions.