A proposed solution for the lifetime puzzle of the 229mTh+ isomer

Abstract

With the example of the 229Th nucleus, which is the most likely candidate for the creation frequency standard of a future, the dynamics of the interplay and the relationship of various resonance conversion mechanisms is analyzed. As a result, a solution is proposed for the so-called thorium puzzle, which consisted of a contradiction between the experimental and theoretical lifetimes of Th+ ions. First, the solution demonstrates the dependence of the lifetime of the nuclear isomer on the ambient conditions. Second, it demonstrates the leveling role of the fragmentation of the single-electron levels, which makes the resonance amplification of the electron-nuclear interaction more likely. Both of these trends lead to a probable decrease of the theoretical lifetime towards agreement with experiment.

arXiv comment20 pages, 8 figures. WE-Heraeus-Seminar on Novel optical clocks in atoms and nuclei, July 9-12, 2018 at the Physikzentrum Bad Honnef, Germany

References in corpus (9)

• A Single-Ion Nuclear Clock for Metrology at the 19th Decimal Place
• Energy of the ${}^{229}$Th nuclear clock transition
• Laser spectroscopic characterization of the nuclear clock isomer ${}^{229m}$Th
• Measurement of the ${}^{229}$Th isomer energy with a magnetic micro-calorimeter
• Lifetime measurement of the ${}^{229}$Th nuclear isomer
• Excitation of the isomeric ^{229m}Th nuclear state via an electronic bridge process in ^{229}Th^+
• Energy of the ${}^{229}$Th Nuclear Clock Isomer Determined by Absolute $\gamma$-ray Energy Difference
• Impact of the ionization of the atomic shell on the lifetime of the ${}^{229m}$Th isomer
• Impact of the ionization of the atomic shell on the lifetime of the 229mTh isomer

Cited by in corpus (2)

• ${}^{229}{\mathrm{ThF}}_4$ thin films for solid-state nuclear clocks
• Lifetime of the singly charged ${}^{229}$Th nuclear isomer