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Preparing an Isotopically Pure 229Th Ion Beam for Studies of 229mTh
Published on: May 3, 2019
Unique Forbidden Beta Decays at Zero Momentum Transfer
Chien-Yeah Seng1,2, Ayala Glick-Magid2,3, Vincenzo Cirigliano3
1Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.
Abstract:
We report an exploratory study of the O(α) structure-dependent electromagnetic radiative corrections to unique first-forbidden nuclear beta decays. We show that the insertion of angular momentum into the nuclear matrix element by the virtual or real photon exchange opens up the decay at vanishing nuclear recoil momentum which was forbidden at tree level, leading to a dramatic change in the decay spectrum not anticipated in existing studies. We discuss its implications for precision tests on the standard model and searches for new physics.
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