Measurement of the branching ratio of the 6He beta-decay channel into the alpha+d continuum

Raabe, Riccardo; Büscher, Jeroen; Ponsaers, Jan; Aksouh, Farouk; Huyse, Marc; Ivanov, Oleg; Lesher, Shelly; Mukha, Ivan; Pauwels, Dieter; Sawicka, Maria; Smirnov, Dmitry; Stefanescu, Irina; Van de Walle, Jarno; Van Duppen, Piet; Angulo, C; Cabrera, J; de Sereville, N; Martel, I; Sanchez-Benitez, AM; Diget, C Aa

doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.80.054307

Measurement of the branching ratio of the 6He beta-decay channel into the alpha+d continuum

Author:

Raabe, Riccardo

Büscher, Jeroen ; Ponsaers, Jan ; Aksouh, Farouk ; Huyse, Marc ; Ivanov, Oleg ; Lesher, Shelly ; Mukha, Ivan ; Pauwels, Dieter ; Sawicka, Maria ; Smirnov, Dmitry ; Stefanescu, Irina ; Van de Walle, Jarno ; Van Duppen, Piet ; Angulo, C ; Cabrera, J ; de Sereville, N ; Martel, I ; Sanchez-Benitez, AM ; Diget, C Aa

Keywords:

Science & Technology, Physical Sciences, Physics, Nuclear, Physics, DELAYED DEUTERON EMISSION, ENERGY-LEVELS, NUCLEI, PARTICLES, 0202 Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics, Nuclear & Particles Physics, 5106 Nuclear and plasma physics

Abstract:

We measured the deuteron-emission branch of the beta decay of the halo nucleus 6He using the technique of implantation into a highly segmented silicon detector. The method, used here for the first time with a beam of 6He ions, ensures precise normalization; the value obtained for the branching ratio is B = (1.65 ± 0.10) x 10^−6 (6% error). The summed energy spectra of the emitted alpha and d particles has also been measured. The results allow us to compare calculations from various models, potentially setting strong constraints on the precision required for the description of the 6He ground-state wave function.