Time Modulation of the K-Shell Electron Capture Decay Rates of H-like Heavy Ions at GSI Experiments

Journal Article · Fri Aug 07 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.103.062502· OSTI ID:21370631

Ivanov, A N ^[1]; Kienle, P ^[2]

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1. Atominstitut der Oesterreichischen Universitaeten, Technische Universitaet Wien, Wiedner Hauptstrasse 8-10, A-1040 Wien (Austria)
2. Stefan Meyer Institut fuer subatomare Physik, Oesterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Boltzmanngasse 3, A-1090, Wien (Austria)

According to experimental data at GSI, the rates of the number of daughter ions, produced by the nuclear K shell electron capture decays of the H-like heavy ions with one electron in the K shell, such as {sup 140}Pr{sup 58+}, {sup 142}Pm{sup 60+}, and {sup 122}I{sup 52+}, are modulated in time with periods T{sub EC} of the order of a few seconds, obeying an A scaling T{sub EC}=A/20 s, where A is the mass number of the mother nuclei, and with amplitudes a{sub d}{sup EC}approx0.21. We show that these data can be explained in terms of the interference of two massive neutrino mass eigenstates. The appearance of the interference term is due to overlap of massive neutrino mass eigenstate energies and of the wave functions of the daughter ions in two-body decay channels, caused by the energy and momentum uncertainties introduced by time differential detection of the daughter ions in GSI experiments.

• OSTI ID: 21370631
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.062502; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
EIGENSTATES
ELECTRON CAPTURE DECAY
ELECTRONS
HEAVY IONS
INTERFERENCE
IODINE 122
K SHELL
MASS
MASS NUMBER
NEUTRINOS
PRASEODYMIUM 140
PROMETHIUM 142
TWO-BODY PROBLEM
WAVE FUNCTIONS
BETA DECAY
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-PLUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHARGED PARTICLES
DECAY
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
FUNCTIONS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
IODINE ISOTOPES
IONS
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LEPTONS
MANY-BODY PROBLEM
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MICROSECONDS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NUCLEAR DECAY
NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
PRASEODYMIUM ISOTOPES
PROMETHIUM ISOTOPES
RADIOISOTOPES
RARE EARTH NUCLEI
SECONDS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES