New experimental limits on the α decays of lead isotopes

J. W. Beeman; F. Bellini; L. Cardani; N. Casali; S. Di Domizio; E. Fiorini; L. Gironi; S. S. Nagorny; S. Nisi; F. Orio; L. Pattavina; G. Pessina; G. Piperno; S. Pirro; E. Previtali; C. Rusconi; C. Tomei; M. Vignati

doi:10.1140/epja/i2013-13050-7

2022 Impact factor 2.7

Hadrons and Nuclei

Eur. Phys. J. A (2013) 49: 50
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2013-13050-7

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

New experimental limits on the α decays of lead isotopes

J. W. Beeman¹⁹⁸⁷⁹, F. Bellini²⁹⁸⁷⁹^,39879, L. Cardani²⁹⁸⁷⁹^,39879, N. Casali⁴⁹⁸⁷⁹^,59879, S. Di Domizio⁶⁹⁸⁷⁹, E. Fiorini⁷⁹⁸⁷⁹^,89879, L. Gironi⁷⁹⁸⁷⁹^,89879, S. S. Nagorny⁵⁹⁸⁷⁹^,99879, S. Nisi⁵⁹⁸⁷⁹, F. Orio³⁹⁸⁷⁹, L. Pattavina⁸⁹⁸⁷⁹^*, G. Pessina⁸⁹⁸⁷⁹, G. Piperno²⁹⁸⁷⁹^,39879, S. Pirro⁸⁹⁸⁷⁹, E. Previtali⁷⁹⁸⁷⁹^,89879, C. Rusconi⁸⁹⁸⁷⁹, C. Tomei³⁹⁸⁷⁹ and M. Vignati³⁹⁸⁷⁹

¹⁹⁸⁷⁹ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 94720, Berkeley, California, USA
²⁹⁸⁷⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma, I 00185, Roma, Italy
³⁹⁸⁷⁹ INFN, Sezione di Roma, I 00185, Roma, Italy
⁴⁹⁸⁷⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli studi dell’Aquila, I 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
⁵⁹⁸⁷⁹ INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, I 67010, L’Aquila, Italy
⁶⁹⁸⁷⁹ INFN, Sezione di Genova, I 16146, Genova, Italy
⁷⁹⁸⁷⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano-Bicocca, I 20126, Milano, Italy
⁸⁹⁸⁷⁹ INFN, Sezione di Milano Bicocca, I 20126, Milano, Italy
⁹⁹⁸⁷⁹ Institute for Nuclear Research, MSP, 03680, Kyiv, Ukraine

^* e-mail: luca.pattavina@mib.infn.it

Received: 13 December 2012
Accepted: 22 March 2013
Published online: 22 April 2013

Abstract

For the first time ancient Roman lead was used to grow a crystal of PbWO₄ , and this crystal has subsequently been used as a cryogenic particle detector. The new device provides independent readout of heat and scintillation light and is able to discriminate between interactions and alpha interactions down to few keV. Stringent limits on the decays of the lead isotopes are presented. In particular a limit of y at a 90% C.L. was evaluated for the decay of ²⁰⁴Pb to ²⁰⁰Hg .