Electromagnetic character of the competitive γγ/γ-decay from 137mBa

P.-A. Söderström (), L. Capponi, E. Açıksöz, T. Otsuka, N. Tsoneva, Y. Tsunoda, D. L. Balabanski, N. Pietralla, G. L. Guardo, D. Lattuada, H. Lenske, C. Matei, D. Nichita, A. Pappalardo and T. Petruse
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P.-A. Söderström: Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)/Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering
L. Capponi: Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)/Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering
E. Açıksöz: Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)/Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering
T. Otsuka: Center for Nuclear Study, University of Tokyo
N. Tsoneva: Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)/Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering
Y. Tsunoda: Center for Nuclear Study, University of Tokyo
D. L. Balabanski: Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)/Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering
N. Pietralla: Institut für Kernphysik, Technische Universität Darmstadt
G. L. Guardo: Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)/Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering
D. Lattuada: Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)/Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering
H. Lenske: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Gießen
C. Matei: Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)/Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering
D. Nichita: Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)/Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering
A. Pappalardo: Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)/Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering
T. Petruse: Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)/Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Second-order processes in physics is a research topic focusing attention from several fields worldwide including, for example, non-linear quantum electrodynamics with high-power lasers, neutrinoless double-β decay, and stimulated atomic two-photon transitions. For the electromagnetic nuclear interaction, the observation of the competitive double-γ decay from 137mBa has opened up the nuclear structure field for detailed investigation of second-order processes through the manifestation of off-diagonal nuclear polarisability. Here, we confirm this observation with an 8.7σ significance, and an improved value on the double-photon versus single-photon branching ratio as 2.62 × 10−6(30). Our results, however, contradict the conclusions from the original experiment, where the decay was interpreted to be dominated by a quadrupole-quadrupole component. Here, we find a substantial enhancement in the energy distribution consistent with a dominating octupole-dipole character and a rather small quadrupole-quadrupole component in the decay, hindered due to an evolution of the internal nuclear structure. The implied strongly hindered double-photon branching in 137mBa opens up the possibility of the double-photon branching as a feasible tool for nuclear-structure studies on off-diagonal polarisability in nuclei where this hindrance is not present.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16787-4

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