Exploring 𝛽 decay and 𝛽-delayed neutron emission in exotic ^46,47Cl isotopes

Journal Article · Thu Aug 21 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Physical Review. C

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/tghm-sszh· OSTI ID:3003711

Tripathi, Vandana ^[1]; Longfellow, B. ^[2]; Volya, A. ^[1]; Rubino, E. ^[1]; Benetti, C. ^[1]; Perello, J. F. ^[1]; Tabor, S. L. ^[1]; Liddick, S. N. ^[3]; Bender, P. C. ^[4]; Carpenter, M. P. ^[5]; Carroll, J. J. ^[6]; Chester, A. ^[3]; Chiara, C. J. ^[6]; Childers, K. ^[7]; Clark, B. R. ^[7]; Crider, B. P. ^[7]; Harke, J. T. ^[8]; Jain, R. ^[2]; Luitel, S. ^[7]; Mogannam, M. J. ^[3] ; Ogunbeku, T. H. ^[9]; Richard, A. L. ^[10]; Saha, S. ^[4]; Shehu, O. A. ^[7]; Unz, R. ^[7]; Xiao, Y. ^[7]; Zhu, Yiyi ^[4]

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1. Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (United States)
2. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
3. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI (United States)
4. University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA (United States)
5. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
6. U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD (United States)
7. Mississippi State University, MS (United States)
8. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
9. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI (United States)
10. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI (United States); Ohio University, Athens, OH (United States)

In this paper, 𝛽⁻ and 𝛽-delayed neutron decays of ^46,47Cl are reported from an experiment carried out at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory using the Beta Counting System. The half-lives of both ⁴⁶Cl and ⁴⁷Cl were extracted. Based on the delayed 𝛾-ray transitions observed, the level structure of 𝑁=28 ⁴⁶Ar was determined. Completely different sets of excited states above the first 2⁺ state in ⁴⁶Ar were populated in the ⁴⁶Cl 𝛽⁢0⁢𝑛 and ⁴⁷Cl 𝛽⁢1⁢𝑛 decay channels. Two new 𝛾-ray transitions in ⁴⁷Ar were identified from the very weak ⁴⁷Cl 𝛽⁢0⁢𝑛 decay. Furthermore, ⁴⁶Cl 𝛽⁢1⁢𝑛 and ⁴⁷Cl 𝛽⁢2⁢𝑛 were also observed to yield different population patterns for levels in ⁴⁵Ar, including states of different parities. Here, the experimental results allow us to address some of the open questions related to the delayed neutron emission process. For isotopes with large neutron excess and high 𝑄_𝛽 values, delayed neutron emission remains an important decay mode and can be utilized as a powerful spectroscopic tool. Experimental results were compared with shell-model calculations using the FSU and 𝑉_MU effective interactions.

• Research Organization: Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: National Science Foundation (NSF); Nuclear Science and Security Consortium; U.S. National Science Foundation; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357; FG02-94ER40848; NA0003180; NA0003906; SC0009883; SC0020451
• OSTI ID: 3003711
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 2587132
• Report Number(s): LLNL--JRNL-2002731
• Journal Information: Physical Review. C, Journal Name: Physical Review. C Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 112; ISSN 2469-9985; ISSN 2469-9993
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
Beta decay
New isotopes
Nuclear decay
Nuclear spin & parity
Nuclear structure
Nuclear structure & decays
Rare & new isotopes
Shell model