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Physical Review Letters

Publication date: 2020-06-05
Volume: 124
Publisher: American Physical Society

Author:

de Roubin, A
Kostensalo, J ; Eronen, T ; Canete, L ; de Groote, RP ; Jokinen, A ; Kankainen, A ; Nesterenko, DA ; Moore, ID ; Rinta-Antila, S ; Suhonen, J ; Vilen, M

Keywords:

DECAY, MODEL, PARTICLE-PHONON DESCRIPTION, Physical Sciences, Physics, Physics, Multidisciplinary, Science & Technology, 01 Mathematical Sciences, 02 Physical Sciences, 09 Engineering, General Physics, 40 Engineering, 49 Mathematical sciences, 51 Physical sciences

Abstract:

The ground-state-to-ground-state β-decay Q value of ^{135}Cs(7/2^{+})→^{135}Ba(3/2^{+}) has been directly measured for the first time. The measurement was done utilizing both the phase-imaging ion-cyclotron resonance technique and the time-of-flight ion-cyclotron resonance technique at the JYFLTRAP Penning-trap setup and yielded a mass difference of 268.66(30) keV between ^{135}Cs(7/2^{+}) and ^{135}Ba(3/2^{+}). With this very small uncertainty, this measurement is a factor of 3 more precise than the currently adopted Q value in the Atomic Mass Evaluation 2016. The measurement confirms that the first-forbidden unique β^{-}-decay transition ^{135}Cs(7/2^{+})→^{135}Ba(11/2^{-}) is a candidate for antineutrino mass measurements with an ultralow Q value of 0.44(31) keV. This Q value is almost an order of magnitude smaller than those of nuclides presently used in running or planned direct (anti)neutrino mass experiment.