Identification of new isomers in $$^{228}$$ 228 Ac: impact on dark matter searches

Abstract We report the identification of metastable isomeric states of $$^{228}$$ 228 Ac at 6.28 keV, 6.67 keV and 20.19 keV, with lifetimes of an order of 100 ns. These states are produced by the $$\beta $$ β -decay of $$^{228}$$ 228 Ra, a component of the $$^{232}$$ 232 Th decay chain, with $$\bet...

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Main Authors: K. W. Kim, G. Adhikari, E. Barbosa de Souza, N. Carlin, J. J. Choi, S. Choi, M. Djamal, A. C. Ezeribe, L. E. França, C. Ha, I. S. Hahn, E. J. Jeon, J. H. Jo, W. G. Kang, M. Kauer, H. Kim, H. J. Kim, S. H. Kim, S. K. Kim, W. K. Kim, Y. D. Kim, Y. H. Kim, Y. J. Ko, E. K. Lee, H. Lee, H. S. Lee, H. Y. Lee, I. S. Lee, J. Lee, J. Y. Lee, M. H. Lee, S. H. Lee, S. M. Lee, D. S. Leonard, B. B. Manzato, R. H. Maruyama, R. J. Neal, S. L. Olsen, B. J. Park, H. K. Park, H. S. Park, K. S. Park, R. L. C. Pitta, H. Prihtiadi, S. J. Ra, C. Rott, K. A. Shin, A. Scarff, N. J. C. Spooner, W. G. Thompson, L. Yang, G. H. Yu, COSINE-100 Collaboration
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2021-08-01
Series:European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-09473-2
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Summary:Abstract We report the identification of metastable isomeric states of $$^{228}$$ 228 Ac at 6.28 keV, 6.67 keV and 20.19 keV, with lifetimes of an order of 100 ns. These states are produced by the $$\beta $$ β -decay of $$^{228}$$ 228 Ra, a component of the $$^{232}$$ 232 Th decay chain, with $$\beta $$ β Q-values of 39.52 keV, 39.13 keV and 25.61 keV, respectively. Due to the low Q-value of $$^{228}$$ 228 Ra as well as the relative abundance of $$^{232}$$ 232 Th and their progeny in low background experiments, these observations potentially impact the low-energy background modeling of dark matter search experiments.
ISSN:1434-6044
1434-6052