Data Analysis of Neutron Capture on 134Xe*

In the study of rare event physics, such as neutrinoless double beta decay, it is important to understand the potential background events. Neutron-induced events can take place even deep underground. Experiments that study the neutrinoless double beta decay of 136Xe use material enriched in 136Xe, but they still contain a significant fraction of 134Xe. In this study, we investigate the 134Xe to 135Xe neutron capture interaction by looking for gamma rays emitted from de-excitation from long-lived excited states of 135Xe and the subsequent decay to 135Cs. The xenon gas used was irradiated in the neutron beam at Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, and the decays were counted in the low-background counting facility located in the Duke Physics building.  We will report our preliminary results of the neutron capture cross section for incident neutron energies of 4.2 and 5.5 MeV.