Results of long-term investigations of variation of cobalt beta decay rate from 28.12.2010 till 08.02.2012 are presented. The scintillation spectrometer with two LaBr3 detectors is used to register of gamma-quanta with energy 1.173 and 1.332 MeV accompanying cobalt beta decay. Counting rate of each detector and their gamma-quanta coincidence are collected in successive time intervals 10 s. The statistical Kolmogorov-Smirnov method for data analysis is used. Temperature influence on experimental results is also analyzed. Deviations of beta decay counting rate from constant distribution during the days were detected in those decades: from 11.03 to 21.03 with significance level a = 0.1; from 22.04 to 02.05 with a=0.0125; from 24.06 to 04.07 with a=0.05; from 04.08 to 14.08 with a=0.05.
In the search for an electron antineutrino detection method with sensitivity below the 1.8 MeV threshold for the inverse beta decay reaction, beta decay counting experiments with ca. 3 kBq 22Na and 60Co sources were conducted at unit #1 (2.775 GW_th) of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in South Africa. The setup consisted of one NaI crystal to measure de-excitation and annihilation photons associated with beta decay. Its volume and well shape were chosen to use coincidence summing in order to differentiate between electron capture and beta+ emission in 22Na. The setup was shielded from the reactor core by 8 m of uninterrupted concrete. Background radiation, responsible for ca. 1% of the total countrate with either source, increased by merely 3% when the reactor status changed from OFF to ON. Normalized countrates of three energy regions-of-interest (TOT, MED, HI) were parameterized to jointly describe the time dependence of two instrumental effects and a reactor-status step function in a least-squares regression analysis. With the 22Na source, the fractional countrate changes in the step from reactor OFF to ON were: (delA/A)_TOT = [-3.02 +- 0.14(stat) +- 0.07(syst)] x 10^-4, (delA/A)_MED = [+1.44 +- 0.42(stat) +- 0.07(syst)] x 10^-4, and (delA/A)_HI = [-2.70 +- 0.26(stat) +- 0.04(syst)] x 10^-4. The uncertainty budget is incomplete because it does not contain the possible influence from environmental factors and the finite stability of the MCA clock-oscillator. No reactor-status dependence was observed with the 60Co source. The corresponding cross sections are [1.55 +- 0.07(stat)] x 10^-25 cm^2 for EC + beta+ decay in 22Na and [0.5 +- 1.5(stat)] x 10^-26 cm^2 for beta- decay of 60Co. The negative sign for TOT and HI activity changes in 22Na points to an antineutrino related interference effect on the beta+ decay of 22Na and rules out reactor neutron induced reactions.
Neutrinoless double-$beta$ decay ($0 ubetabeta$ decay) is a hypothetical process that can occur if the neutrino is its own antiparticle. The COBRA collaboration operates a demonstrator to search for these decays at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy using CdZnTe semiconductor detectors. The exposure of $234.7,$kg,d considered in this analysis was collected between September 2011 and February 2015. The analysis focuses on the decay of the nuclides $^{114}$Cd, $^{128}$Te, $^{70}$Zn, $^{130}$Te and $^{116}$Cd. A Bayesian analysis is performed to estimate the signal strength of $0 ubetabeta$ decay. No signal is observed for any of these nuclides. Therefore, the following half-life limits at 90% credibility are set: $T_{1/2}^{0 u}>1.6cdot10^{21},$yr ($^{114}$Cd), $T_{1/2}^{0 u}>1.9cdot10^{21},$yr ($^{128}Te$), $T_{1/2}^{0 u}>6.8cdot10^{18},$yr ($^{70}$Zn), $T_{1/2}^{0 u}>6.1cdot10^{21},$yr ($^{130}$Te), and $T_{1/2}^{0 u}>1.1cdot10^{21},$yr ($^{116}$Cd).
The standard model predicts that, in addition to a proton, an electron, and an antineutrino, a continuous spectrum of photons is emitted in the $beta$ decay of the free neutron. We report on the RDK II experiment which measured the photon spectrum using two different detector arrays. An annular array of bismuth germanium oxide scintillators detected photons from 14 to 782~keV. The spectral shape was consistent with theory, and we determined a branching ratio of 0.00335 $pm$ 0.00005 [stat] $pm$ 0.00015 [syst]. A second detector array of large area avalanche photodiodes directly detected photons from 0.4 to 14~keV. For this array, the spectral shape was consistent with theory, and the branching ratio was determined to be 0.00582 $pm$ 0.00023 [stat] $pm$ 0.00062 [syst]. We report the first precision test of the shape of the photon energy spectrum from neutron radiative decay and a substantially improved determination of the branching ratio over a broad range of photon energies.
The Gerda experiment designed to search for the neutrinoless double beta decay in 76Ge has successfully completed the first data collection. No signal excess is found, and a lower limit on the half life of the process is set, with T1/2 > 2.1x10^25 yr (90% CL). After a review of the experimental setup and of the main Phase I results, the hardware upgrade for Gerda Phase II is described, and the physics reach of the new data collection is reported.
A new technique has been developed at TRIUMFs TITAN facility to perform in-trap decay spectroscopy. The aim of this technique is to eventually measure weak electron capture branching ratios (ECBRs) and by this to consequently determine GT matrix elements of $betabeta$ decaying nuclei. These branching ratios provide important input to the theoretical description of these decays. The feasibility and power of the technique is demonstrated by measuring the ECBR of $^{124}$Cs.