Published September 2, 2011 | Version v1
Journal article

Direct Observation of Two Protons in the Decay of 54Zn

  • 1. Centre d'Etudes Nucleaires de Bordeaux Gradignan--Universite Bordeaux 1--UMR 5797 CNRS/IN2P3, Chemin du Solarium, BP 120, 33175 Gradignan (France)
  • 2. Faculte de Physique, USTHB, B.P.32, El Alia, 16111 Bab Ezzouar, Alger (Algeria)
  • 3. National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, P.O. Box MG6, Bucharest-Margurele (Romania)
  • 4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, and National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1321 (United States)
  • 5. Grand Accelerateur National d'Ions Lourds, CEA/DSM-CNRS/IN2P3, 14076 Caen Cedex 05 (France)
  • 6. Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, JINR, Dubna 141980 (Russian Federation)

Description

The two protons emitted in the decay of 54Zn have been individually observed for the first time in a time projection chamber. The total decay energy and the half-life measured in this work agree with the results obtained in a previous experiment. Angular and energy correlations between the two protons are determined and compared to theoretical distributions of a three-body model. Within the shell model framework, the relative decay probabilities show a strong contribution of the p2 configuration for the two-proton emission. After 45Fe, the present result on 54Zn constitutes only the second case of a direct observation of the ground state two-proton decay of a long-lived isotope.

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review Letters
Journal Volume
107
Journal Issue
10
Journal Page Range
p. 102502-102502.5
ISSN
0031-9007
CODEN
PRLTAO

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2011 American Institute of Physics