Neutron inelastic scattering and reactions in natural Pb as a background in neutrinoless double-{beta}-decay experiments

Inelastic neutron scattering and reactions on Pb isotopes can result in {gamma} rays near the signature end-point energy in a number of {beta}{beta} isotopes. In particular, there are {gamma}-ray transitions in {sup 206,207,208}Pb that might produce energy deposits at the {sup 76}GeQ{sub {beta}}{sub {beta}} in Ge detectors used for 0{nu}{beta}{beta} searches. The levels that produce these {gamma} rays can be excited by (n,n{sup '}{gamma}) or (n,xn{gamma}) reactions, but the cross sections are small and previously unmeasured. This work uses the pulsed neutron beam at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center to directly measure reactions of interest to {beta}{beta}-decay experiments. The cross section on {sup nat}Pb to produce the 2041-keV {gamma} ray from {sup 206}Pb is measured to be 3.6 {+-} 0.7 (stat.) {+-} 0.3 (syst.) mb at {approx_equal}9.6 MeV. The cross section on {sup nat}Pb to produce the 3061,3062-keV {gamma} rays from {sup 207}Pb and {sup 208}Pb is measured to be 3.9 {+-} 0.8 (stat.) {+-} 0.4 (syst.) mb at the same energy. We report cross sections or place upper limits on the cross sections for exciting some other levels in Pb that have transition energies corresponding to Q{sub {beta}}{sub {beta}} in other {beta}{beta} isotopes.