1 Energy release in alpha-decay 2 Consider a nucleus which is stable against decay by proton or neutron emission { the least bound nucleon still has (say) several MeV of binding energy. This nucleus may nevertheless still be able to decay by using the fact that if it can emit an alpha-particle (2He), it can use the binding energy of the alpha to supply the energy needed for the escape. That is,...

M. Lee,1 M. C. Cassidy,2 C. Ramanathan,3 and C. M. Marcus1,* 1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA 2School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA (Received 21 March 2011; revised manuscript received 23 May 2011...

A Monte Carlo technique for modeling background in space-based gamma-ray telescopes has been developed. The major background components included in this modeling technique are the diffuse cosmic gamma-ray flux, the Earth's atmospheric flux, the decay of nuclei produced by spallation of cosmic rays, trapped protons and their secondaries, the decay of nuclei produced by neutron capture, and the d...

Stomach smooth muscle (SSM) and left ventricular muscle (LVM) express the sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase (SERCA) pump gene SERCA2. Alternative splicing yields two major isoforms, SERCA2a in LVM and slow twitch muscle and SERCA2b in SSM and most other tissues. The splices have different 3'-untranslated regions (UTR) and also encode proteins that differ slightly in their COOH-terminal...

We present the nuclear matrix element for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of ^{48}Ca based on large-scale shell-model calculations including two harmonic oscillator shells (sd and pf shells). The excitation spectra of ^{48}Ca and ^{48}Ti, and the two-neutrino double-beta decay of ^{48}Ca are reproduced in good agreement to the experimental data. We find that the neutrinoless double-beta deca...

We have performed a critical analysis of different approximation schemes for the calculation of two-neutrino double beta decay (2β2ν-decay) matrix elements. For that purpose the time integral representation of the 2β2νdecay matrix element has been used. We have shown that within the singleparticle approximation of the nuclear Hamiltonian the 2β2ν-decay matrix element is equal to zero because of...

Theory predicts that lifetimes of β -radionuclides can change dramatically as a function their ionization state. Experiments performed in Storage Rings on highly ionized atom have proven nuclei beta decay lifetime up to several orders magnitude. The PANDORA (Plasmas for Astrophysics, Nuclear Decay Observation and Radiation Archaeometry) experiment is now conceived measure, the first time, nucle...

We review the current status of precision measurements in allowed nuclear beta decay, including neutron decay, with emphasis on their potential to look for new physics beyond the standard electroweak model. The experimental results are interpreted in the framework of phenomenological model-independent descriptions of nuclear beta decay as well as in some specific extensions of the standard mode...

Localized and cold samples of atoms produced with laser cooling and trapping techniques are a powerful tool for nuclear β-decay experiments. Recently we have concentrated on measurements of the momentum of the daughter ion produced, which leads to a variety of new observables. Angular distributions of the recoils with respect to the nuclear spin in β decay are sensitive to non-standard model in...