Photofission and total photoabsorption cross sections in the energy range of shadowing effects

The energy dependence of photofission cross section for heavy nuclei has recently been well described in terms of a Monte Carlo calculation at energies from the pion photoproduction threshold up to 1 GeV [see, for instance, A. Deppman et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 87 (2001) 182701]. Recent experimental data from CLAS (CEBAF Large Angle Spectrometer) collaboration have extended the measured photofission cross section up to 3.5 GeV for actinide and preactinide nuclei. In this work we address the calculation of photoabsorption and photofission cross sections for actinide and preactinide nuclei above 1 GeV, a region where the shadowing effect plays an important role in the nuclear photoabsorption process.