Searching for Tensor Currents in the Weak Interaction in the β-decay of <sup>8</sup>Li and <sup>8</sup>B

ORAL

Abstract

The weak interaction of the Standard Model is well-described by a vector-axial vector, or ‘V-A’, structure, which reproduces both maximal parity violation and left-handed neutrinos in beta-decay. However, there is no first-principles reason that other the interactions, such as scalar (S) or tensor (T), may not be present. To search for possible tensor contributions to the weak interaction we measure the beta-neutrino correlation coefficient aβν in the Gamow-Teller beta-decays of 8Li and 8B. The A = 8 decays are ideal to probe aβν due to the large Q-value and delayed alpha emission from the excited state 8Be. These measurements are performed with the Beta decay Paul Trap (BPT) at Argonne National Lab. The BPT is surrounded on 4 sides with double-sided silicon strip detectors backed by plastic scintillator detectors, which allow the kinematics of decay products from the trapped mass-8 ions to be over-constrained. In this presentation we will present the high precision results form 8Li and the first results from the decay of 8B.

*We acknowledge NSERC, Canada, Contract Nos. SAPPJ-2015-00034 and SAPPJ-2018-00028, the U.S. DOE Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 [ANL] and DE-AC52-07NA27344 [LLNL], and the Argonne National Laboratory ATLAS facility, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

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Presenters

  • Aaron Gallant

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Authors

  • Aaron Gallant

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Mary Burkey

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Nicholas D Scielzo

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Guy Savard

    • Argonne National Laboratory

  • Jason A Clark

    • Argonne National Laboratory

  • Barbara S Wang

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    • LLNL

  • Maxime Brodeur

    • University of Notre Dame

  • Fritz Buchinger

    • McGill University

  • Daniel P Burdette

    • University of Notre Dame

  • Dmitry Gorelov

    • Argonne National Laboratory

  • Tsviki Hirsh

    • Soreq NRC
    • Soreq Nuclear Research Center

  • Kay Kolos

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • LLNL
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Kristina D Launey

    • Louisiana State University

  • Kyle G Leach

    • Colorado School of Mines

  • Bernhard Maass

    • TU Darmstadt

  • Scott T Marley

    • Louisiana State University

  • Peter Mueller

    • Argonne National Laboratory

  • Rodney Orford

    • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  • Dwaipayan Ray

    • University of Manitoba
    • University of Manitoba / Argonne National Laboratory
    • University of Manitoba/Argonne National Laboratory
    • U. Manitoba

  • Grigor H Sargsyan

    • Louisiana State University

  • Ralph E Segel

    • Northwestern University

  • Kevin Siegl

    • University of Tennessee
    • University of Tennessee, Knoxville

  • Kumar S Sharma

    • University of Manitoba

  • Louis Varriano

    • University of Chicago