Abstract
We report the first detection of the second-forbidden, nonunique, , ground-state transition in the decay of . A low-energy, mass-separated beam produced at the IGISOL facility in Jyväskylä, Finland, was implanted in a thin carbon foil and the spectrum measured using a magnetic transporter and a plastic-scintillator detector. The -decay branching ratio inferred from the measurement is corresponding to , making this one of the strongest second-forbidden, nonunique transitions ever measured. The experimental result is supported by shell-model calculations and has significant implications for the final evolution of stars that develop degenerate oxygen-neon cores. Using the new experimental data, we argue that the astrophysical electron-capture rate on is now known to within better than 25% at the relevant temperatures and densities.
9 More- Received 15 August 2019
- Corrected 4 March 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.100.065805
©2019 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Corrections
4 March 2020
Correction: The inadvertent omission of a marker indicating “Featured in Physics” in the PDF format has been fixed.
Viewpoint
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