Neutron Moderation in the Oklo Natural Reactor and the Time Variation of alpha
Abstract
In the analysis of the Oklo (gabon) natural reactor to test for a possible time variation of the fine structure constant alpha, a Maxwell-Boltzmann low energy neutron spectrum was assumed. We present here an analysis where a more realistic spectrum is employed and show that the most recent isotopic analysis of samples implies a non-zero change in alpha, over the last two billion years since the reactor was operating, of \Delta\alpha/\alpha\geq 2.2\times 10^{-7} (6\sigma confidence). Issues regarding the interpretation of the shifts of the low energy neutron resonances are discussed.Keywords
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