A1 Journal article (refereed)
Determination of β-decay ground state feeding of nuclei of importance for reactor applications (2020)

Guadilla, V., Tain, J. L., Algora, A., Agramunt, J., Jordan, D., Monserrate, M., Montaner-Pizá, A., Orrigo, S. E. A., Rubio, B., Valencia, E., Briz, J. A., Cucoanes, A., Estienne, M., Fallot, M., Le Meur, L., Porta, A., Shiba, T., Zakari-Issoufou, A.-A., Äystö, J., . . . Sonzogni, A.A. (2020). Determination of β-decay ground state feeding of nuclei of importance for reactor applications. Physical Review C, 102(6), Article 064304. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.102.064304

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Guadilla, V.; Tain, J. L.; Algora, A.; Agramunt, J.; Jordan, D.; Monserrate, M.; Montaner-Pizá, A.; Orrigo, S. E. A.; Rubio, B.; Valencia, E.; et al.

Journal or series: Physical Review C

ISSN: 2469-9985

eISSN: 2469-9993

Publication year: 2020

Publication date: 02/12/2020

Volume: 102

Issue number: 6

Article number: 064304

Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)

Publication country: United States

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.102.064304

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access:

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/73020

Abstract

In β-decay studies the determination of the decay probability to the ground state (g.s.) of the daughter nucleus often suffers from large systematic errors. The difficulty of the measurement is related to the absence of associated delayed γ-ray emission. In this work we revisit the 4πγ−β method proposed by Greenwood and collaborators in the 1990s, which has the potential to overcome some of the experimental difficulties. Our interest is driven by the need to determine accurately the β-intensity distributions of fission products that contribute significantly to the reactor decay heat and to the antineutrinos emitted by reactors. A number of such decays have large g.s. branches. The method is relevant for nuclear structure studies as well. Pertinent formulas are revised and extended to the special case of β-delayed neutron emitters, and the robustness of the method is demonstrated with synthetic data. We apply it to a number of measured decays that serve as test cases and discuss the features of the method. Finally, we obtain g.s. feeding intensities with reduced uncertainty for four relevant decays that will allow future improvements in antineutrino spectrum and decay heat calculations using the summation method.

Keywords: nuclear physics

Free keywords: beta decay; nuclear reactors; nuclear structure and decays; spectrometers and spectroscopic techniques

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Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2020

JUFO rating: 2