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Title: Decays of the Three Top Contributors to the Reactor ν ¯ e High-Energy Spectrum, Rb 92 , Y 96 gs , and Cs 142 , Studied with Total Absorption Spectroscopy

Abstract

Here, we report total absorption spectroscopy measurements of 92Rb, 96gsY, 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%.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [2]; ORCiD logo [5];  [6];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4];  [7];  [8];  [7];  [1];  [6];  [5];  [6]; ORCiD logo [4];  [2]; ORCiD logo [4];  [6] more »;  [9];  [10];  [11];  [6];  [10] « less
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  2. Univ. of Warsaw, Warsaw (Poland); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  3. Univ. of Warsaw, Warsaw (Poland); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  5. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  6. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  7. Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States)
  8. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  9. Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville, TN (United States)
  10. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
  11. Mississippi State Univ., Mississippi State, MS (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
OSTI Identifier:
1491328
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1328606
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725; FG02-96ER40983; FG02-96ER40978; FG02-96ER41006; FG05-88ER40407 (VU)
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 117; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

Citation Formats

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., and Zachary, C. J. Decays of the Three Top Contributors to the Reactor ν¯e High-Energy Spectrum, Rb92 , Y96gs , and Cs142 , Studied with Total Absorption Spectroscopy. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.092501.
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. Decays of the Three Top Contributors to the Reactor ν¯e High-Energy Spectrum, Rb92 , Y96gs , and Cs142 , Studied with Total Absorption Spectroscopy. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.092501
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., and Zachary, C. J. 2016. "Decays of the Three Top Contributors to the Reactor ν¯e High-Energy Spectrum, Rb92 , Y96gs , and Cs142 , Studied with Total Absorption Spectroscopy". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.092501. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1491328.
@article{osti_1491328,
title = {Decays of the Three Top Contributors to the Reactor ν¯e High-Energy Spectrum, Rb92 , Y96gs , and Cs142 , Studied with Total Absorption Spectroscopy},
author = {Rasco, B. C. and Wolińska-Cichocka, M. and Fijałkowska, A. and Rykaczewski, Krzysztof P. and Karny, Marek and Grzywacz, Robert Kazimierz and Goetz, K. C. and Gross, Carl J. and Stracener, Daniel W. and Zganjar, E. F. and Batchelder, Jon C. and Blackmon, J. C. and Brewer, Nathan T. and Go, S. and Heffron, Blaine and King, T. and Matta, James T. and Miernik, Krzysztof and Nesaraja, Caroline D. and Paulauskas, S. V. and Rajabali, M. M. and Wang, E. H. and Winger, J. A. and Xiao, Y. and Zachary, C. J.},
abstractNote = {Here, we report total absorption spectroscopy measurements of 92Rb, 96gsY, 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%.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.092501},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1491328}, journal = {Physical Review Letters},
issn = {0031-9007},
number = 9,
volume = 117,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Mon Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

β decay study of the Mn 66 Fe 66 Co 66 Ni 66 decay chain
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Large Impact of the Decay of Niobium Isomers on the Reactor ν ¯ e Summation Calculations
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First-forbidden transitions in the reactor anomaly
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