Investigation of the = 0 selection rule in Gamow-Teller transitions; The -decay of Hg

Berry, T. A.*; Podolyk, Zs.*; Carroll, R. J.*; Lic, R.*; Grawe, H.*; Timofeyuk, N. K.*; Alexander, T.*; Andreyev, A. N.; Ansari, S.*; Borge, M. J. G.*; et al.

Physics Letters B, 793, p.271 - 275, 2019/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2019.04.039

Gamow-Teller decay is forbidden if the number of nodes in the radial wave functions of the initial and final states is different. This = 0 requirement plays a major role in the decay of heavy neutron-rich nuclei, affecting the nucleosynthesis through the increased half-lives of nuclei on the astrophysical -process pathway below both = 50 (for 82) and = 82 (for 126). The level of forbiddenness of the = 1 10 transition has been investigated from the decay of the ground state of Hg into the single-proton-hole nucleus Tl in an experiment at the ISOLDE Decay Station. From statistical observational limits on possible -ray transitions depopulating the 0 state in Tl, an upper limit of 3.910 % was obtained for the probability of this decay, corresponding to log 8.8 within a 95% confidence limit. This is the most stringent test of the = 0 selection rule to date.