Shell-model study of the 4th- and 6th-forbidden β -decay branches of 48-Ca

The highly forbidden β− decay of 48Ca is reexamined by performing shell-model calculations with the GXPF1A effective interaction. We examine the three available decay branches to the lowest 6+, 5+, and 4+ states of 48Sc, and extract a theoretical half-life of T β 1/2 = 5.2+1.7 −1.3 × 1020 g−2 A yr for the β− decay, where gA is the value of the axial-vector coupling constant. The current half-life estimate suggests stronger competition between the single-β-decay and double-β-decay branches of 48Ca than previously expected on theoretical grounds. peerReviewed