Neutron inelastic scattering in natural Cu as a background in neutrinoless double-β decay experiments

Inelastic neutron scattering on Pb isotopes can result in {gamma} rays near the signature endpoint energy in a number of {beta}{beta} isotopes. In particular, there are {gamma}-ray transitions in {sup 206}Pb and {sup 207}Pb that might produce energy deposits at the {sup 76}Ge Q{sub {beta}{beta}} in Ge detectors used for 0{nu}{beta}{beta} searches. The levels that produce these {gamma} rays can be excited by n,n'{gamma} reactions, but the cross sections are small and previously unmeasured. The cross section on {sup nat}Pb to produce the 2041-keV {gamma} ray from {sup 206}Pb is measured to be 3.1 {+-} 0.6 (stat.) {+-} 0.3 (syst.) mb at {approx} 9.6 MeV. The cross section on {sup nat}Pb to produce the 3062-keV {gamma} ray from {sup 207}Pb is measured to be 4.3 {+-} 0.8 (stat.) {+-} 0.4 (syst.) mb at the same energy. We place upper limits on the cross sections for exciting some other levels in Pb that have transition energies corresponding to Q{sub {beta}{beta}} in orhter {beta}{beta} isotopes.