Beta-decay studies for applied and basic nuclear physics

Abstract

In this review we will present the results of recent beta-decay studies using the total absorption technique that cover topics of interest for applications, nuclear structure and astrophysics. The decays studied were selected primarily because they have a large impact on the prediction of a) the decay heat in reactors, important for the safety of present and future reactors and b) the reactor electron antineutrino spectrum, of interest for particle/nuclear physics and reactor monitoring. For these studies the total absorption technique was chosen, since it is the only method that allows one to obtain beta decay probabilities free from a systematic error called the Pandemonium effect. The measurements presented and discussed here were performed mainly at the IGISOL facility of the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland) using isotopically pure beams provided by the JYFLTRAP Penning trap. Examples are presented to show that the results of our measurements on selected nuclei have had a large impact on predictions of both the decay heat and the anti-neutrino spectrum from reactors. Some of the cases involve beta delayed neutron emission thus one can study the competition between gamma- and neutron-emission from states above the neutron separation energy. The gamma-to-neutron emission ratios can be used to constrain neutron capture (n,gamma)cross sections for unstable nuclei of interest in astrophysics. The information obtained from the measurements can also be used to test nuclear model predictions of half-lives and Pn values for decays of interest in astrophysical network calculations. These comparisons also provide insights into aspects of nuclear structure in particular regions of the nuclear chart.

arXiv comment26 pages, 24 figures

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Preparations for Quantum Simulations of Quantum Chromodynamics in 1+1 Dimensions: (II) Single-Baryon $\beta$-Decay in Real Time
• First measurement of high-energy reactor antineutrinos at Daya Bay
• Improving Fission-product Decay Data for Reactor Applications: Part I -- Decay Heat
• Reactor antineutrino flux and anomaly
• $g_{\mathrm{A}}$-sensitive $\beta$ spectral shapes in the mass $A=86-99$ region assessed by the nuclear shell model
• Semileptonic weak Hamiltonian to $\mathcal{O}(\alpha {\alpha }_s({\mu }_{\mathrm{Lattice}}))$ in momentum-space subtraction schemes
• Nuclear ${\beta }^{-}$-decay with statistical de-excitation
• How to measure the reactor neutrino flux below the inverse beta decay threshold with CE$\nu$NS
• Study of ${\beta }^{+}$/EC-decay properties of $sd$ shell nuclei using nuclear shell model
• Study of beta spectrum shapes relevant to the prediction of reactor antineutrino spectra
• Study of $\mathbf{\beta }$ Decay Shape Factors in First-Forbidden Transitions with $\mathbf{\Delta }{\mathbf{I}}^{\mathbf{\pi }}=0^{-}$ for Reactor Antineutrino Spectra Predictions