The scattering and absorption of low-energy neutrons (&i?<3Cl) by complex square well potentials of spheroidal shape r = R(\-\-aP%) is calculated by expanding the neutron wave function in terms of appropriate spherical Bessel and Neumann functions times spherical harmonics. The convergence of the results obtained is demonstrated.The "strength function'' f n°/ Z>, the average value of neutron width to spacing, is of particular interest in nuclear physics. It can be calculated from the scattering amplitude.This strength function is plotted as a function of atomic number in the region A >90. The results are seen to deviate considerably from the corresponding results for spherical nuclei. Comparison is made with experiment.

A theory predicting 7-ray spectra following intermediate or high-energy nuclear reactions is derived on the basis of the statistical theory. The equations take a particularly simple form if the assumption is made that all radiative transitions are of the electric dipole type. The theory is applied to two specific reactions: inelastic neutron scattering and thermal neutron capture. Numerical calculations of spectra arising from thermal neutron capture by two gadolinium isotopes are shown to compare well with experiments.

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