First limit on neutrinoless quadruple decay of to the state of
Abstract
Observation of lepton number violation via detection of neutrinoless double β decay requires that the neutrino be a Majorana particle. If the neutrino is a Dirac particle, a potential lepton-number violating process is neutrinoless quadruple β decay. Only a few nuclei can undergo neutrinoless quadruple β decay; one of these nuclei is 150Nd. This study yields the first half-life limit of the neutrinoless quadruple β decay to the excited $$0$$ $$^{+}_{1}$$ state of 150Gd. Here, we searched for neutrinoless quadruple β decay events to excited final states of 150Gd by detecting the deexcitation γ rays of the daughter nucleus in coincidence. These γ rays have energies of 569.031 and 638.050 keV, and are emitted in coincidence through a $$0$$ $$^{+}_{1}$$ → $$2$$ $$^{+}_{1}$$ → $$0$$ $$^{+}_{gs}$$ transition. The enriched Nd2O3 sample consisted of 40.33 ± 0.02 g 150Nd and was observed for 642.8 days at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility. A half-life limit for the decay to the $$0$$ $$^{+}_{1}$$ state of 150Gd was found to be T1/2 > 1.76 × 1020 years (90% CL). We report the first search for this decay to excited final states. Though the predicted half-life of this decay is many orders of magnitudes larger, constraining this value experimentally is vital to check for potential enhancements to the decay rate.
- Authors:
-
- Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville, TN (United States)
- Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States); Triangle Univ. Nuclear Lab., Durham, NC (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1610380
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1481449
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FG02-97ER41033
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review C
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 98; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 2469-9985
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; physics; double beta decay; neutrinoless double beta decay
Citation Formats
Kidd, M. F., and Tornow, W. First limit on neutrinoless quadruple β decay of Nd150 to the 01+ state of Gd150. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1103/physrevc.98.055501.
Kidd, M. F., & Tornow, W. First limit on neutrinoless quadruple β decay of Nd150 to the 01+ state of Gd150. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.98.055501
Kidd, M. F., and Tornow, W. Fri .
"First limit on neutrinoless quadruple β decay of Nd150 to the 01+ state of Gd150". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.98.055501. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1610380.
@article{osti_1610380,
title = {First limit on neutrinoless quadruple β decay of Nd150 to the 01+ state of Gd150},
author = {Kidd, M. F. and Tornow, W.},
abstractNote = {Observation of lepton number violation via detection of neutrinoless double β decay requires that the neutrino be a Majorana particle. If the neutrino is a Dirac particle, a potential lepton-number violating process is neutrinoless quadruple β decay. Only a few nuclei can undergo neutrinoless quadruple β decay; one of these nuclei is 150Nd. This study yields the first half-life limit of the neutrinoless quadruple β decay to the excited $0$ $^{+}_{1}$ state of 150Gd. Here, we searched for neutrinoless quadruple β decay events to excited final states of 150Gd by detecting the deexcitation γ rays of the daughter nucleus in coincidence. These γ rays have energies of 569.031 and 638.050 keV, and are emitted in coincidence through a $0$ $^{+}_{1}$ → $2$ $^{+}_{1}$ → $0$ $^{+}_{gs}$ transition. The enriched Nd2O3 sample consisted of 40.33 ± 0.02 g 150Nd and was observed for 642.8 days at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility. A half-life limit for the decay to the $0$ $^{+}_{1}$ state of 150Gd was found to be T1/2 > 1.76 × 1020 years (90% CL). We report the first search for this decay to excited final states. Though the predicted half-life of this decay is many orders of magnitudes larger, constraining this value experimentally is vital to check for potential enhancements to the decay rate.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevc.98.055501},
journal = {Physical Review C},
number = 5,
volume = 98,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Nov 09 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Fri Nov 09 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}
Web of Science
Figures / Tables:
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Figures / Tables found in this record: