GSI-ESA-NASA Nuclear Cross-section Database: Update II. Elemental and Isotopic Fragment-production Cross Sections

Experimentally measured nuclear fragment-production cross-sections are needed for the development of cross-section models implemented in the radiation transport codes used for several endpoints, including radiation protection and health risk assessment in space. Elemental and isotopic fragment-production cross-section data have been collected from literature in a publicly available database through a combined GSI-ESA-NASA effort. The collected data for systems of interest for space exploration are discussed, and the literature gaps are indicated. The data are also compared with the nuclear fragmentation models implemented in the NASA radiation transport code HZETRN2020, namely NUCFRG3 and RAADFRG. The results show that NUCFRG3 does not take into account nuclear-structure effects, while RAADFRG does. Therefore, RAADFRG can estimate more precisely the production of certain projectile fragments, in particular helium. Nevertheless, for some systems and high energies, RAADFRG overestimates the oscillations due to odd-even effects.