Superallowed Gamow-Teller decay of the doubly magic nucleus $^{100}$Sn

2012

Expérience au GSI; The shell structure of atomic nuclei is associated with 'magic numbers' and originates in the nearly independent motion of neutrons and protons in a mean potential generated by all nucleons. During b1-decay, a proton transforms into a neutron in a previously not fully occupied orbital, emitting a positron-neutrino pair with either parallel or antiparallel spins, in a Gamow-Teller or Fermi transition, respectively. The transition probability, or strength, of a Gamow-Teller transition depends sensitively on the underlying shell structure and is usually distributed among many states in the neighbouring nucleus. Here we report measurements of the half-life and decay energy fo…