Dy159 Electron-Capture : A New Candidate for Neutrino Mass Determination
Abstract
The ground state to ground state electron-capture Q value of 159Dy (3/2−) has been measured directly using the double Penning trap mass spectrometer JYFLTRAP. A value of 364.73(19) keV was obtained from a measurement of the cyclotron frequency ratio of the decay parent 159Dy and the decay daughter 159Tb ions using the novel phase-imaging ion-cyclotron resonance technique. The Q values for allowed Gamow-Teller transition to 5/2− and the third-forbidden unique transition to 11/2+ state with excitation energies of 363.5449(14) keV and 362.050(40) keV in 159Tb were determined to be 1.18(19) keV and 2.68(19) keV, respectively. The high-precision Q value of transition 3/2−→5/2− from this work, revealing itself as the lowest electron-capture Q value, is used to unambiguously characterize all the possible lines that are present in its electron-capture spectrum. We performed atomic many-body calculations for both transitions to determine electron-capture probabilities from various atomic orbitals and found an order of magnitude enhancement in the event rates near the end point of energy spectrum in the transition to the 5/2− nuclear excited state, which can become very interesting once the experimental challenges of identifying decays into excited states are overcome. The transition to the 11/2+ state is strongly suppressed and found unsuitable for measuring the neutrino mass. These results show that the electron-capture in the 159Dy atom, going to the 5/2− state of the 159Tb nucleus, is a new candidate that may open the way to determine the electron-neutrino mass in the sub-eV region by studying electron-capture. Further experimental feasibility studies, including coincidence measurements with realistic detectors, will be of great interest.
Main Authors
Format
Articles
Research article
Published
2021
Series
Publication in research information system
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202201241271Use this for linking
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0031-9007
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.272301
Language
English
Published in
Physical Review Letters
Citation
- Ge, Z., Eronen, T., Tyrin, K. S., Kotila, J., Kostensalo, J., Nesterenko, Dimitrii A., Beliuskina, O., de Groote, R., de Roubin, A., Geldhof, S., Gins, W., Hukkanen, M., Jokinen, A., Kankainen, A., Koszorús, Á., Krivoruchenko, M. I., Kujanpää, S., Moore, Ian D., Raggio, A., . . . Zadvornaya, A. (2021). Dy159 Electron-Capture : A New Candidate for Neutrino Mass Determination. Physical Review Letters, 127(27), Article 272301. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.272301
Funder(s)
Research Council of Finland
Research Council of Finland
European Commission
Research Council of Finland
Research Council of Finland
Research Council of Finland
Research Council of Finland
Research Council of Finland
Research Council of Finland
Research Council of Finland
Funding program(s)
Research costs of Academy Research Fellow, AoF
Research costs of Academy Research Fellow, AoF
ERC Consolidator Grant
Research costs of Academy Research Fellow, AoF
Research costs of Academy Research Fellow, AoF
Academy Research Fellow, AoF
Academy Research Fellow, AoF
Research costs of Academy Research Fellow, AoF
Academy Project, AoF
Academy Research Fellow, AoF
Akatemiatutkijan tutkimuskulut, SA
Akatemiatutkijan tutkimuskulut, SA
ERC Consolidator Grant
Akatemiatutkijan tutkimuskulut, SA
Akatemiatutkijan tutkimuskulut, SA
Akatemiatutkija, SA
Akatemiatutkija, SA
Akatemiatutkijan tutkimuskulut, SA
Akatemiahanke, SA
Akatemiatutkija, SA



Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
Additional information about funding
We acknowledge the support by the Academy of Finland under the Finnish Centre of Excellence Program (Nuclear and Accelerator Based Physics Research at JYFL) and Projects No. 306980, 312544, 275389, 284516, 295207, 314733, 318043, 327629, and 320062. The support by the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant No. 771036 (ERC CoG MAIDEN) is acknowledged.
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