A1 Journal article (refereed)
Superallowed α Decay to Doubly Magic 100Sn (2018)

Auranen, K., Seweryniak, D., Albers, M., Ayangeakaa, A. D., Bottoni, S., Carpenter, M. P., Chiara, C. J., Copp, P., David, H. M., Doherty, D. T., Harker, J., Hoffman, C. R., Janssens, R. V. F., Khoo, T. L., Kuvin, S. A., Lauritsen, T., Lotay, G., Rogers, A. M., Sethi, J., . . . Zhu, S. (2018). Superallowed α Decay to Doubly Magic 100Sn. Physical Review Letters, 121(18), Article 182501. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.121.182501

JYU authors or editors

Scholey, Catherine

Publication details

All authors or editors: Auranen, K.; Seweryniak, D.; Albers, M.; Ayangeakaa, A. D.; Bottoni, S.; Carpenter, M. P.; Chiara, C. J.; Copp, P.; David, H. M.; Doherty, D. T.; et al.

Journal or series: Physical Review Letters

ISSN: 0031-9007

eISSN: 1079-7114

Publication year: 2018

Volume: 121

Issue number: 18

Article number: 182501

Publisher: American Physical Society

Publication country: United States

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.121.182501

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access:

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/62939

Abstract

We report the first observation of the Xe108→Te104→Sn100 α-decay chain. The α emitters, Xe108 [Eα=4.4(2) MeV, T1/2=58-23+106 μs] and Te104 [Eα=4.9(2) MeV, T1/2<18 ns], decaying into doubly magic Sn100 were produced using a fusion-evaporation reaction Fe54(Ni58,4n)Xe108, and identified with a recoil mass separator and an implantation-decay correlation technique. This is the first time α radioactivity has been observed to a heavy self-conjugate nucleus. A previous benchmark for study of this fundamental decay mode has been the decay of Po212 into doubly magic Pb208. Enhanced proton-neutron interactions in the N=Z parent nuclei may result in superallowed α decays with reduced α-decay widths significantly greater than that for Po212. From the decay chain, we deduce that the α-reduced width for Xe108 or Te104 is more than a factor of 5 larger than that for Po212.

Keywords: nuclear physics; radioactivity

Free keywords: alpha decay; nucleon-nucleon interactions

Fields of science: