Production of neutrons in thick targets by high-energy protons and nuclei

This article is dedicated to the physics of spallation neutron production by high-energy particles and applications thereof. This field of research is related to the rapidly developing branch of nuclear physics that is high-energy neutron physics. The central part of this article is a review of experimental results obtained in different laboratories of the world during the last more than a quarter of a century. Analysis of the characteristics of multiple neutron production in targets induced by protons and nuclei with energies higher than several hundreds of mega-electronvolts per nucleon is performed. The results of measurements that were carried out at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research with beams of protons, deuterons, and light nuclei are discussed. Natural and artificial sources of spallation neutrons and their role in up-to-date studies are considered.