Precision measurement and modelling of the threshold-free 210Pb β spectrum

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Zhang, Shuo, Liu, Hao-Ran, Han, Ke, Mougeot, Xavier, Hervieux, Paul-Antoine, Sun, Tao, Wu, Wen-Tao, Cantor, Robin, Xia, Jing-Kai, Liu, Zhi, Liang, Jun-Cheng, Fan, Fu-You, Zhang, Le, Ge, Ming-Yu, Zhou, Xiao-Peng, Andoche, Adrien
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866918152186626048
author Zhang, Shuo
Liu, Hao-Ran
Han, Ke
Mougeot, Xavier
Hervieux, Paul-Antoine
Sun, Tao
Wu, Wen-Tao
Cantor, Robin
Xia, Jing-Kai
Liu, Zhi
Liang, Jun-Cheng
Fan, Fu-You
Zhang, Le
Ge, Ming-Yu
Zhou, Xiao-Peng
Andoche, Adrien
author_facet Zhang, Shuo
Liu, Hao-Ran
Han, Ke
Mougeot, Xavier
Hervieux, Paul-Antoine
Sun, Tao
Wu, Wen-Tao
Cantor, Robin
Xia, Jing-Kai
Liu, Zhi
Liang, Jun-Cheng
Fan, Fu-You
Zhang, Le
Ge, Ming-Yu
Zhou, Xiao-Peng
Andoche, Adrien
contents Beta decay is a fundamental process that governs nuclear stability and serves as a sensitive probe of the weak interaction and possible physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. However, precise measurements of complete $β$ decay spectra, particularly at low energies, remain experimentally and theoretically challenging. Here we report a high-precision, threshold-free measurement of the full $β$ decay spectrum of 210Pb to excited states of 210Bi, using a transition-edge sensor (TES)-based micro-calorimeter. This approach enables the detection of $β$ particle energies from 0 keV up to their endpoint by coincidence summing with subsequent de-excitation energy, thereby eliminating reconstruction artifacts near zero energy that have traditionally limited low-energy spectral accuracy. To our knowledge, this is the first complete, high-precision $β$ decay spectrum from 0 keV. The data resolve theoretical uncertainties associated with the atomic quantum exchange (AQE) effect. An accompanying ab initio theoretical framework, incorporating atomic, leptonic, and nuclear components, predicts a statistically significant (7.2 {$σ$}) enhancement in $β$ emission probability near zero energy, in agreement with the measurement and in contrast to models that omit AQE corrections. These results provide a new benchmark for $β$ decay theory at low energies, deepen our understanding of the weak interaction, and establish a critical foundation for searches for new physics, including dark matter interactions and precision studies of neutrinos.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_26390
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Precision measurement and modelling of the threshold-free 210Pb β spectrum
Zhang, Shuo
Liu, Hao-Ran
Han, Ke
Mougeot, Xavier
Hervieux, Paul-Antoine
Sun, Tao
Wu, Wen-Tao
Cantor, Robin
Xia, Jing-Kai
Liu, Zhi
Liang, Jun-Cheng
Fan, Fu-You
Zhang, Le
Ge, Ming-Yu
Zhou, Xiao-Peng
Andoche, Adrien
Nuclear Experiment
Nuclear Theory
Instrumentation and Detectors
Beta decay is a fundamental process that governs nuclear stability and serves as a sensitive probe of the weak interaction and possible physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. However, precise measurements of complete $β$ decay spectra, particularly at low energies, remain experimentally and theoretically challenging. Here we report a high-precision, threshold-free measurement of the full $β$ decay spectrum of 210Pb to excited states of 210Bi, using a transition-edge sensor (TES)-based micro-calorimeter. This approach enables the detection of $β$ particle energies from 0 keV up to their endpoint by coincidence summing with subsequent de-excitation energy, thereby eliminating reconstruction artifacts near zero energy that have traditionally limited low-energy spectral accuracy. To our knowledge, this is the first complete, high-precision $β$ decay spectrum from 0 keV. The data resolve theoretical uncertainties associated with the atomic quantum exchange (AQE) effect. An accompanying ab initio theoretical framework, incorporating atomic, leptonic, and nuclear components, predicts a statistically significant (7.2 {$σ$}) enhancement in $β$ emission probability near zero energy, in agreement with the measurement and in contrast to models that omit AQE corrections. These results provide a new benchmark for $β$ decay theory at low energies, deepen our understanding of the weak interaction, and establish a critical foundation for searches for new physics, including dark matter interactions and precision studies of neutrinos.
title Precision measurement and modelling of the threshold-free 210Pb β spectrum
topic Nuclear Experiment
Nuclear Theory
Instrumentation and Detectors
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.26390