Beta Decay of Molecular Tritium

Lin, Y. -T.; Burritt, T. H.; Claessens, C.; Holman, G.; Kallander, M.; Machado, E.; Minter, L. I.; Ostertag, R.; Parno, D. S.; Pedersen, J.; Peterson, D. A.; Robertson, R. G.  H.; Smith, E. B.; Van Wechel, T. D.; Vizcaya Hernández, A. P.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.222502

Title: Beta Decay of Molecular Tritium

Journal Article · Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.222502· OSTI ID:1631458

; Burritt, T. H.; Claessens, C.; Holman, G.;

; Machado, E.;

;

; Peterson, D. A.;

; Smith, E. B.;

; Vizcaya Hernández, A. P.

The beta decay of tritium in the form of molecular $T_{2}$ 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 further determine 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 finding, 56.5(6)%, is compatible with the theoretical expectation and disagrees strongly with the previous measurements.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)

Contributing Organization:: TRIMS Collaboration

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-97ER41020; SC0019304

OSTI ID:: 1631458

Journal Information:: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 124, Issue 22; ISSN 0031-9007

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 5 works

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