While the 12C(a,g)16O reaction plays a central role in nuclear astrophysics, the cross section at energies relevant to hydrostatic helium burning is too small to be directly measured in the laboratory. The beta-delayed alpha spectrum of 16N can be us
ed to constrain the extrapolation of the E1 component of the S-factor; however, with this approach the resulting S-factor becomes strongly correlated with the assumed beta-alpha branching ratio. We have remeasured the beta-alpha branching ratio by implanting 16N ions in a segmented Si detector and counting the number of beta-alpha decays relative to the number of implantations. Our result, 1.49(5)e-5, represents a 24% increase compared to the accepted value and implies an increase of 14% in the extrapolated S-factor.
A new test of Lorentz invariance in the weak interactions has been made by searching for variations in the decay rate of spin-polarized 20Na nuclei. This test is unique to Gamow-Teller transitions, as was shown in the framework of a recently develope
d theory that assumes a Lorentz symmetry breaking background field of tensor nature. The nuclear spins were polarized in the up and down direction, putting a limit on the amplitude of sidereal variations of the form |(Gamma_{up} - Gamma_{down})| / (Gamma_{up} + Gamma_{down}) < 3 * 10^{-3}. This measurement shows a possible route toward a more detailed testing of Lorentz symmetry in weak interactions.
