Comprehensive analysis of uncertainty quantification for the 58 Ni(n, p) 58 Co reaction cross section

In this study, we measured the 58 Ni( n , p ) 58 Co reaction cross section with neutron energies of 1.06, 1.86, and 2.85 MeV. The cross section was measured using neutron activation techniques and γ -ray spectroscopy, and it was compared with cross section data available in the EXFOR. Furthermore, we calculated the covariance matrix of the measured cross section for the aforementioned nuclear reaction. The uncertainties of the theoretical calculation for 58 Ni( n , p ) 58 Co reaction cross section were calculated via Monte Carlo method. In this study, we used uncertainties in the optical model and level density parameters to calculate uncertainties in the theoretical cross sections. The theoretical calculations were performed by using TALYS-1.96. In this study, we aim to analyze the effect of uncertainties of the nuclear model input as well as different experimental variables used to obtain the values of reaction cross section.