6533b857fe1ef96bd12b3ce5
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Beta Decay of Molecular Tritium
A. P. Vizcaya HernándezE. MachadoT. D. Van WechelJ. PedersenYukang LinR. G. H. RobertsonL. I. MinterD.a. PetersonM. KallanderDiana ParnoR. OstertagG. HolmanT.h. BurrittEduardo SmithC. Claessenssubject
PhysicsFOS: Physical sciencesGeneral Physics and AstronomyBranching (polymer chemistry)01 natural sciencesBeta decayIonIonization0103 physical sciencesTritiumNuclear Experiment (nucl-ex)Atomic physicsNeutrino010306 general physicsNuclear Experimentdescription
The beta decay of tritium in the form of molecular TT is the basis of sensitive experiments to measure neutrino mass. The final-state electronic, vibrational, and rotational excitations modify the beta spectrum significantly, and are obtained from theory. We report measurements of the branching ratios to specific ionization states for the isotopolog HT. Two earlier, concordant measurements gave branching ratios of HT to the bound HHe$^+$ ion of 89.5% and 93.2%, in sharp disagreement with the theoretical prediction of 55-57%, raising concerns about the theory's reliability in neutrino mass experiments. Our result, 56.5(6)%, is compatible with the theoretical expectation and disagrees strongly with the previous measurements.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-01-31 | Physical Review Letters |