First observation of cyclotron radiation from MeV-scale ${\rm e}^{pm}$ following nuclear beta decay
Abstract
We present an apparatus for detection of cyclotron radiation that allows a frequency-based beta energy determination in the 5 keV to 5 MeV range, characteristic of nuclear beta decays. The cyclotron frequency of the radiating beta particles in a magnetic field is used to determine the beta energy precisely. Our work establishes the foundation to apply the cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy (CRES) technique, developed by the Project 8 collaboration, far beyond the 18-keV tritium endpoint region. We report initial measurements of beta^-s from 6He and beta^+s from 19Ne decays to demonstrate the broadband response of our detection system and assess potential systematic uncertainties for beta spectroscopy over the full (MeV) energy range. This work is an important benchmark for the practical application of the CRES technique to a variety of nuclei, in particular, opening its reach to searches for evidence of new physics beyond the TeV scale via precision beta-decay measurements.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2209.02870,
title = {First observation of cyclotron radiation from MeV-scale ${\rm e}^{pm}$ following nuclear beta decay},
author = {W. Byron and H. Harrington and R. J. Taylor and W. DeGraw and N. Buzinsky and B. Dodson and M. Fertl and A. Garcia and G. Garvey and B. Graner and M. Guigue and L. Hayen and X. Huyan and K. S. Khaw and K. Knutsen and D. McClain and D. Melconian and P. Mueller and E. Novitski and N. S. Oblath and R. G. H. Robertson and G. Rybka and G. Savard and E. Smith and D. D. Stancil and M. Sternberg and D. W. Storm and H. E. Swanson and J. R. Tedeschi and B. A. VanDevender and F. E. Wietfeldt and A. R. Young and X. Zhu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2209.02870},
year = {2023}
}