Measurement and covariance analysis of reaction cross sections for ⁵⁸Ni(n,p)⁵⁸Co relative to cross section for formation of 97Zr fission product in neutron-induced fission of ²³²Th and ²³⁸U at effective neutron energies E_n = 5.89, 10.11, and 15.87 MeV

The ⁵⁸Ni(n,p)⁵⁸Co reaction cross sections have been measured relative to two monitors: The cross sections for the formation of the 97Zr fission product in neutron-induced fission of (a) ²³²Th and of(b) ²³⁸U. It is demonstrated how to generate and combine covariance matrices (using partial uncertainties and microcorrelations) in relative measurements at various stages like efficiency calibration of the high-purity germanium detector, using the ratio of⁵⁸Ni(n,p)⁵⁸Co reaction cross section relative to monitor cross section, and in the process of normalization. We further illustrate the weighted averaging of equivalent data as applicable in relative measurements. We provide the necessary data and the corresponding table of partial uncertainties as required for compilation in the EXchange-FORmat (EXFOR) database. This helps, in principle, anyone to generate and verify the steps in the calculation of the covariance matrices in the present work. We believe that it is important for all nuclear experimental scientists to incorporate a detailed data reduction procedure, reduced data, and partial uncertainties in their publications, to the extent possible, which will be very useful in EXFOR compilation.