Decays of the Three Top Contributors to the Reactor ν¯e High-Energy Spectrum, Rb92 , Y96gs , and Cs142 , Studied with Total Absorption Spectroscopy

Rasco, B. C.; Wolińska-Cichocka, M.; Fijałkowska, A.; Rykaczewski, Krzysztof P.; Karny, Marek; Grzywacz, Robert Kazimierz; Goetz, K. C.; Gross, Carl J.; Stracener, Daniel W.; Zganjar, E. F.; Batchelder, Jon C.; Blackmon, J. C.; Brewer, Nathan T.; Go, S.; Heffron, Blaine; King, T.; Matta, James T.; Miernik, Krzysztof; Nesaraja, Caroline D.; Paulauskas, S. V.; Rajabali, M. M.; Wang, E. H.; Winger, J. A.; Xiao, Y.; Zachary, C. J.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.092501

Decays of the Three Top Contributors to the Reactor ${\bar{ν}}_{e}$ High-Energy Spectrum, ${}^{92}{Rb}$ , ${}^{96 gs}Y$ , and ${}^{142}{Cs}$ , Studied with Total Absorption Spectroscopy

Journal Article · Mon Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.092501· OSTI ID:1491328

Rasco, B. C. ^[1]; Wolińska-Cichocka, M. ^[2]; Fijałkowska, A. ^[3]; ^[4]; Karny, Marek ^[2]; ^[5]; Goetz, K. C. ^[6]; Gross, Carl J. ^[4]; ^[4]; Zganjar, E. F. ^[7]; Batchelder, Jon C. ^[8]; Blackmon, J. C. ^[7]; Brewer, Nathan T. ^[1]; Go, S. ^[6]; Heffron, Blaine ^[5]; King, T. ^[6]; ^[4]; Miernik, Krzysztof ^[2]; ^[4]; Paulauskas, S. V. ^[6] more »

Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Univ. of Warsaw, Warsaw (Poland); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Univ. of Warsaw, Warsaw (Poland); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville, TN (United States)
Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
Mississippi State Univ., Mississippi State, MS (United States)

Here, we report total absorption spectroscopy measurements of ⁹²Rb, ⁹⁶^gsY, and ¹⁴²Cs β decays, which are the most important contributors to the high energy ν¯_e spectral shape in nuclear reactors. These three β decays contribute 43% of the ¯νe flux near 5.5 MeV emitted by nuclear reactors. This ν¯_e energy is particularly interesting due to spectral features recently observed in several experiments including the Daya Bay, Double Chooz, and RENO Collaborations. Measurements were conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by means of proton-induced fission of ²³⁸U with on-line mass separation of fission fragments and the Modular Total Absorption Spectrometer. We observe a β-decay pattern that is similar to recent measurements of ⁹²Rb, with a ground-state to ground-state β feeding of 91(3)%. We verify the ^96gsY ground-state to ground-state β feeding of 95.5(20)%. Our measurements substantially modify the β-decay feedings of ¹⁴²Cs, reducing the β feeding to ¹⁴²Ba states below 2 MeV by 32% when compared with the latest evaluations. Our results increase the discrepancy between the observed and the expected reactor ν¯_e flux between 5 and 7 MeV, the maximum excess increases from ~10% to ~12%.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP) (SC-26)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; FG02-96ER40978; FG02-96ER40983; FG02-96ER41006

OSTI ID:: 1491328

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1328606

Journal Information:: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 117; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (33)

Improved measurements of the neutrino mixing angle θ 13 with the Double Chooz detector Abe, Y.; dos Anjos, J. C.; Barriere, J. C. Journal of High Energy Physics, Vol. 2014, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2014)086	journal	October 2014
The essential decay of pandemonium: A demonstration of errors in complex beta-decay schemes Hardy, J. C.; Carraz, L. C.; Jonson, B. Physics Letters B, Vol. 71, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/0370-2693(77)90223-4	journal	November 1977
Status of radioactive ion beams at the HRIBF Stracener, D. W. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 204 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-583X(02)01888-8	journal	May 2003
Measurement of β−-decay intensity distributions of several fission-product isotopes using a total absorption γ-ray spectrometer Greenwood, R. C.; Helmer, R. G.; Putnam, M. H. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 390, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-9002(97)00356-2	journal	May 1997
Monte Carlo simulation of the response of a large NaI(Tl)total absorption spectrometer for β-decay studies Cano-Ott, D.; Tain, J. L.; Gadea, A. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 430, Issue 2-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-9002(99)00217-X	journal	July 1999
Precise quasielastic neutrino/nucleon cross-section Strumia, Alessandro; Vissani, Francesco Physics Letters B, Vol. 564, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0370-2693(03)00616-6	journal	July 2003
Nuclear Data Sheets for A = 96 Abriola, D.; Sonzogni, A. A. Nuclear Data Sheets, Vol. 109, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nds.2008.10.002	journal	November 2008
Nuclear Data Sheets for A = 142 Johnson, T. D.; Symochko, D.; Fadil, M. Nuclear Data Sheets, Vol. 112, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nds.2011.08.002	journal	August 2011
ENDF/B-VII.1 Nuclear Data for Science and Technology: Cross Sections, Covariances, Fission Product Yields and Decay Data Chadwick, M. B.; Herman, M.; Obložinský, P. Nuclear Data Sheets, Vol. 112, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nds.2011.11.002	journal	December 2011
Nuclear Data Sheets for A = 92 Baglin, Coral M. Nuclear Data Sheets, Vol. 113, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nds.2012.10.001	journal	October 2012
Modular Total Absorption Spectrometer at the HRIBF (ORNL, Oak Ridge) Wolińska-Cichocka, M.; Rykaczewski, K. P.; Fijałkowska, A. Nuclear Data Sheets, Vol. 120 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nds.2014.06.131	journal	June 2014
Algorithms for the analysis of -decay total absorption spectra Tain, J. L.; Cano-Ott, D. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 571, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2006.10.098	journal	February 2007
SuN: Summing NaI(Tl) gamma-ray detector for capture reaction measurements Simon, A.; Quinn, S. J.; Spyrou, A. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 703 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2012.11.045	journal	March 2013
The nonlinear light output of NaI(Tl) detectors in the Modular Total Absorption Spectrometer Rasco, B. C.; Fijałkowska, A.; Karny, M. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 788 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2015.03.087	journal	July 2015
The new case of missing antineutrinos Chang, Sung Physics Today, Vol. 69, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.3156	journal	May 2016
Meson-exchange enhancement of the first-forbidden Y g 96 ( 0 − ) → 96 Zr g ( 0 + ) β transition: β decay of the low-spin isomer of Y 96 Mach, H.; Warburton, E. K.; Gill, R. L. Physical Review C, Vol. 41, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.41.226	journal	January 1990
Strong octupole and dipole collectivity in Zr 96 : Indication for octupole instability in the A =100 mass region Mach, H.; Ćwiok, S.; Nazarewicz, W. Physical Review C, Vol. 42, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.42.R811	journal	September 1990
Absolute branching intensities in the decay of Rb 92 to Sr 92 Lhersonneau, G.; Rizzi, V.; Alyakrinskiy, O. Physical Review C, Vol. 74, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.74.017308	journal	July 2006
Determination of antineutrino spectra from nuclear reactors Huber, Patrick Physical Review C, Vol. 84, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.84.024617	journal	August 2011
Nuclear structure insights into reactor antineutrino spectra Sonzogni, A. A.; Johnson, T. D.; McCutchan, E. A. Physical Review C, Vol. 91, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.91.011301	journal	January 2015
Effect of first-forbidden decays on the shape of neutrino spectra Fang, Dong-Liang; Brown, B. Alex Physical Review C, Vol. 91, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.91.025503	journal	February 2015
Reactor antineutrino anomaly Mention, G.; Fechner, M.; Lasserre, Th. Physical Review D, Vol. 83, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.83.073006	journal	April 2011
Possible origins and implications of the shoulder in reactor neutrino spectra Hayes, A. C.; Friar, J. L.; Garvey, G. T. Physical Review D, Vol. 92, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.92.033015	journal	August 2015
Reactor Decay Heat in Pu 239 : Solving the γ Discrepancy in the 4–3000-s Cooling Period Algora, A.; Jordan, D.; Taín, J. L. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.202501	journal	November 2010
Observation of Reactor Electron Antineutrinos Disappearance in the RENO Experiment Ahn, J. K.; Chebotaryov, S.; Choi, J. H. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.191802	journal	May 2012
New Antineutrino Energy Spectra Predictions from the Summation of Beta Decay Branches of the Fission Products Fallot, M.; Cormon, S.; Estienne, M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.202504	journal	November 2012
Systematic Uncertainties in the Analysis of the Reactor Neutrino Anomaly Hayes, A. C.; Friar, J. L.; Garvey, G. T. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.202501	journal	May 2014
Spectral Structure of Electron Antineutrinos from Nuclear Reactors Dwyer, D. A.; Langford, T. J. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 114, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.012502	journal	January 2015
Total Absorption Spectroscopy Study of Rb 92 Decay: A Major Contributor to Reactor Antineutrino Spectrum Shape Zakari-Issoufou, A. -A.; Fallot, M.; Porta, A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 115, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.102503	journal	September 2015
Measurement of the Reactor Antineutrino Flux and Spectrum at Daya Bay An, F. P.; Balantekin, A. B.; Band, H. R. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 116, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061801	journal	February 2016
Effects of Fission Yield Data in the Calculation of Antineutrino Spectra for U 235 ( n , fission ) at Thermal and Fast Neutron Energies Sonzogni, A. A.; McCutchan, E. A.; Johnson, T. D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 116, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.132502	journal	April 2016
Geant4 developments and applications Allison, J.; Amako, K.; Apostolakis, J. IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. 53, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2006.869826	journal	February 2006
Multiple γ Emission of the 137 Xe 2849–2850 keV Levels Studied with the Modular Total Absorption Spectrometer (MTAS) Rasco, B. C.; Fijałkowska, A.; Karny, M. Proceedings of the Conference on Advances in Radioactive Isotope Science (ARIS2014) https://doi.org/10.7566/JPSCP.6.030018	conference	June 2015

Cited By (10)

First-forbidden transitions in the reactor anomaly Hayen, L.; Kostensalo, J.; Severijns, N. Physical Review C, Vol. 100, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.100.054323	journal	November 2019
Total absorption γ -ray spectroscopy of the β -delayed neutron emitters Br 87 , Br 88 , and Rb 94 Valencia, E.; Tain, J. L.; Algora, A. Physical Review C, Vol. 95, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.95.024320	journal	February 2017
Recoil ions from the β decay of Sb 134 confined in a Paul trap Siegl, K.; Scielzo, N. D.; Czeszumska, A. Physical Review C, Vol. 97, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.97.035504	journal	March 2018
Revealing fine structure in the antineutrino spectra from a nuclear reactor Sonzogni, A. A.; Nino, M.; McCutchan, E. A. Physical Review C, Vol. 98, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.98.014323	journal	July 2018
β − decay study of the Mn 66 − Fe 66 − Co 66 − Ni 66 decay chain Stryjczyk, M.; Tsunoda, Y.; Darby, I. G. Physical Review C, Vol. 98, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.98.064326	journal	December 2018
NEOS Data and the Origin of the 5 MeV Bump in the Reactor Antineutrino Spectrum Huber, Patrick Physical Review Letters, Vol. 118, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.118.042502	journal	January 2017
Large Impact of the Decay of Niobium Isomers on the Reactor ν ¯ e Summation Calculations Guadilla, V.; Algora, A.; Tain, J. L. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 122, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.122.042502	journal	January 2019
Fuel-Composition Dependent Reactor Antineutrino Yield at RENO Bak, G.; Choi, J. H.; Jang, H. I. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 122, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.122.232501	journal	June 2019
Fuel-composition dependent reactor antineutrino yield at RENO Collaboration, The RENO arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1806.00574	text	January 2018
First-forbidden transitions in the reactor anomaly Hayen, Leendert; Kostensalo, Joel; Severijns, Nathal arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1908.08302	text	January 2019

Similar Records

Impact of Modular Total Absorption Spectrometer measurements of

β

decay of fission products on the decay heat and reactor

{\bar{ν}}_{e}

flux calculation

Journal Article · Tue Aug 01 20:00:00 EDT 2017 · Physical Review Letters · OSTI ID:1492173

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS