$^{179}$Ta(n, γ) cross-section measurement and the astrophysical origin of the $^{180}$Ta isotope

$^{180m}$Ta is nature's rarest (quasi) stable isotope and its astrophysical origin is an open question. A possible production site of this isotope is the slow neutron capture process in asymptotic giant branch stars, where it can be produced via neutron capture reactions on unstable $^{179}$Ta. We report a new measurement of the $^{179}$Ta(n,γ) $^{180}$Ta cross section at thermal-neutron energies via the activation technique. Our results for the thermal and resonance-integral cross sections are 952±57 and 2013±148 b, respectively. The thermal cross section is in good agreement with the only previous measurement [Phys. Rev. C 60, 025802 (1999)], while the resonance integral is different by a factor of ≈1.7. While neutron energies in this work are smaller than the energies in a stellar environment, our results may lead to improvements in theoretical predictions of the stellar cross section.