We report on time-modulated two-body weak decays observed in the orbital electron capture of hydrogen-like 140Pr59+ and 142Pm60+ ions coasting in an ion storage ring. Using non-destructive single ion, time-resolved Schottky mass spectrometry we found that the expected exponential decay is modulated in time with a modulation period of about 7 seconds for both systems. Tentatively this observation is attributed to the coherent superposition of finite mass eigenstates of the electron neutrinos from the weak decay into a two-body final state.
Observation of non-exponential orbital electron capture decays of hydrogen-like (140)Pr and (142)Pm ions
MAZZOCCO, MARCO;
2008
Abstract
We report on time-modulated two-body weak decays observed in the orbital electron capture of hydrogen-like 140Pr59+ and 142Pm60+ ions coasting in an ion storage ring. Using non-destructive single ion, time-resolved Schottky mass spectrometry we found that the expected exponential decay is modulated in time with a modulation period of about 7 seconds for both systems. Tentatively this observation is attributed to the coherent superposition of finite mass eigenstates of the electron neutrinos from the weak decay into a two-body final state.File in questo prodotto:
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