New experimental limits on the α decays of lead isotopes

2012/12/12 by J. W. Beeman, F. Bellini, L. Cardani +16 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Neutrino Physics Research #Nuclear physics research studies #Radioactive Decay and Measurement Techniques #nucl-ex

paper · pdf · doi:10.1140/epja/i2013-13050-7

published as Eur. Phys. J. A (2013) 49: 50

arxiv created 2012/12/12 · openalex publication_date 2013/04/01 · arxiv updated 2014/03/12 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

For the first time a PbWO4 crystal was grown using ancient Roman lead and it was run as a cryogenic detector. Thanks to the simultaneous and independent read-out of heat and scintillation light, the detector was able to discriminate beta/gamma interactions with respect to alpha particles down to low energies. New more stringent limits on the alpha decays of the lead isotopes are presented. In particular a limit of T_1/2 > 1.4*10²0 y at a 90% C.L. was evaluated for the alpha decay of 204Pb to 200Hg.

Citations

• First measurement of the partial widths of ²⁰⁹Bi decay to the ground and to the first excited states
• Experimental detection of α-particles from the radioactive decay of natural bismuth
• Isotopic compositions of the elements 2009 (IUPAC Technical Report)

Cited by

• Isotopes of lead [wikipedia]
• Lead [wikipedia]