Abstract
This review deals exclusively with the theoretical task of interpreting the measurement of a thermal neutron absorption rate in terms of the neutron density that existed at the probe location prior to probe insertion. Successful accomplishment of this task is fairly obviously of considerable practical importance, since activation measurements of thermal fluxes are an important adjunct to many reactor experiments and are also frequently employed to obtain thermal flux maps in reactor cores and reflectors. Because of its importance, the problem has received extensive and varied (but usually piecemeal and semi-intuitive) theoretical attention over the past twenty years. Many experiments have been performed concurrently. The net result has been to perpetuate a lively interest in the problem, since comparisons of experiment with experiment, experiment with theory, and theory with theory have been ragged and controversial.1 It will be the purpose of this review to present an adequately precise and general state...

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