Eur. Phys. J. A (2012) 48: 12
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2012-12012-y

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Precise energy of the 9.4 keV gamma transition observed in the ⁸³Rb decay

¹ Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, CZ-121 16, Prague, Czech Republic
² Nuclear Physics Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ-250 68, Řež near Prague, Czech Republic
³ Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, CZ-115 19, Prague, Czech Republic

^* e-mail: slezak@ujf.cas.cz

Received: 23 September 2011
Revised: 12 January 2012
Accepted: 16 January 2012
Published online: 8 February 2012

Abstract

The energy of the 9.4 keV γ-transition observed in the ⁸³Rb decay was established to be 9405.8(3) eV. This energy value was obtained from photon spectrometry measurements of the differences in the energies of closely spaced lines. The result allows one to determine more precisely the energy of conversion electrons of the 9.4 keV transition, which represent a unique tool for energy calibration of the tritium beta spectrum and systematic measurements in the KATRIN neutrino mass determination experiment.