The WITCH experiment: Acquiring the first recoil ion spectrum

Abstract

The standard model of the electroweak interaction describes beta-decay in the well-known V-A form. Nevertheless, the most general Hamiltonian of a beta-decay includes also other possible interaction types, e.g. scalar (S) and tensor (T) contributions, which are not fully ruled out yet experimentally. The WITCH experiment aims to study a possible admixture of these exotic interaction types in nuclear beta-decay by a precise measurement of the shape of the recoil ion energy spectrum. The experimental set-up couples a double Penning trap system and a retardation spectrometer. The set-up is installed in ISOLDE/CERN and was recently shown to be fully operational. The current status of the experiment is presented together with the data acquired during the 2006 campaign, showing the first recoil ion energy spectrum obtained. The data taking procedure and corresponding data acquisition system are described in more detail. Several further technical improvements are briefly reviewed.

11 pages, 6 figures, conference proceedings EMIS 2007 (http://emis2007.ganil.fr), published also in NIM B: doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2008.05.150

References in corpus (5)

• Tests of the standard electroweak model in beta decay
• Scalar interaction limits from the beta-neutrino correlation of trapped radioactive atoms
• Positron-neutrino correlation in the 0^+ \to 0^+ decay of ^{32}Ar
• Precise Measurement of the Pion Axial Form Factor in the Pi+ -> e+ nu gamma Decay
• The WITCH Experiment: towards weak interactions studies. Status and prospects

Cited by in corpus (8)

• New physics searches in nuclear and neutron $\beta$ decay
• Precision measurements of the ${}^{60}$Co $\beta$-asymmetry parameter in search for tensor currents in weak interactions
• Precision measurements in nuclear β-decay with LPCTrap
• The TITAN in-trap decay spectroscopy facility at TRIUMF
• $\mathcal{F}t$ values of the mirror $\beta$ transitions and the weak magnetism induced current in allowed nuclear $\beta$ decay
• Effect of a sweeping conductive wire on electrons stored in the Penning trap between the KATRIN spectrometers
• First detection and energy measurement of recoil ions following beta decay in a Penning trap with the WITCH experiment
• Application of the Most Frequent Value Method for ${}^{39}$Ar Half-Life Determination