A massive neutrino in nuclear beta decay?

Conference · Sat Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992

OSTI ID:10112508

Norman, E B; Chan, Yuen-Dat; Garcia, A; Lesko, K T; Larimer, R M; Stokstad, R G; Sur, B; Zlimen, I ^[1]; da Cruz, M T.F. ^[1]; Hindi, M M ^[1]; Wietfeldt, F E ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)
2. California Univ., Berkeley, CA (United States)

We have continued our studies of the p-spectrum of {sup 14}C using a germanium detector doped with {sup 14}C. There is a feature in the {beta}-spectrum 17 keV below the endpoint which could be explained by the hypothesis that there is a heavy neutrino emitted in the {beta}-decay of {sup 14}C with a mass of 17{plus_minus}1 keV and an emission probability of 1.26{plus_minus}0.25%. However, we also have performed a high statistics measurement of the inner bremsstrahlung spectrum of {sup 55}Fe and find no indication of the emission of a 17-keV neutrino. We conclude that the origin of the ``kink`` that has been observed in some recent beta spectral measurements is not a neutrino.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 10112508
• Report Number(s): LBL--32953; CONF-920837--30; ON: DE93004718
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

662430
663210
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
BETA DECAY
BREMSSTRAHLUNG
CARBON 14
ELECTRON CAPTURE
GE SEMICONDUCTOR DETECTORS
GROUND-STATE RADIOACTIVITY
IRON 55
NEUTRINO DETECTION
NEUTRINOS
PROPERTIES OF LEPTONS
REST MASS