Towards the Limits of Existence of Nuclear Structure: Observation and First spectroscopy of the Isotope ${}^{31}$K by measuring its three-proton Decay

Abstract

The most-remote from stability isotope ${}^{31}$K, which is located four atomic mass units beyond the proton drip line, has been observed. It is unbound in respect to three-proton ($3p$) emission, and its decays have been detected in flight by measuring trajectories of all decay products using micro-strip detectors. The $3p$-emission processes have been studied by means of angular correlations ${}^{28}$S+3$p$ and the respective decay vertexes. The energies of the previously-unknown ground and excited states of ${}^{31}$K have been determined. This provides its $3p$ separation-energy value $S_{3p}$ of $-4.6(2)$ MeV. Upper half-life limits of 10 ps of the observed ${}^{31}$K states have been derived from distributions of the measured decay vertexes.

arXiv comment6 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (6)

• First observation of 54Zn and its decay by two-proton emission
• Three-body forces and proton-rich nuclei
• Improved Kelson-Garvey mass relations for proton-rich nuclei
• Deep excursion beyond the proton dripline. I. Argon and chlorine isotope chains
• Spectroscopy of excited states of unbound nuclei ${}^{30}$Ar and ${}^{29}$Cl
• Deep excursion beyond the proton dripline. II. Toward the limits of existence of nuclear structure

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Recent Progress in Two-proton Radioactivity
• Beyond the proton drip line: Bayesian analysis of proton-emitting nuclei
• Two-proton emission and related phenomena
• Observation and spectroscopy of proton-unbound nucleus ${}^{21}$Al
• Mirror Symmetry Breaking Disclosed in the Decay of Three-Proton Emitter 20Al
• 2022 Update of the discoveries of nuclides
• Gamow shell model predictions for six-proton unbound nucleus ${}^{20}$Si
• Direct observation of three-neutron emission from ${}^7$He${}^{\ast }$ and the search for the trineutron