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Precise determination of electron-capture Q value of Sn113 decay related to electron neutrino mass measurements

Zhuang Ge1,*, Tommi Eronen1, Vasile Alin Sevestrean2,3,4,†, Ovidiu Niţescu4, Sabin Stoica2, Marlom Ramalho1, Jouni Suhonen1,2,‡, Anu Kankainen1, Marjut Hukkanen1,5 et al.

Arthur Jaries1,§, Ari Jokinen1, Joel Kostensalo6, Jenni Kotila7,8, Maxime Mougeot1, Iain D. Moore1, Wirunchana Rattanasakuldilok1, Jouni Ruotsalainen1,∥, and Marek Stryjczyk1,¶

  • *Contact author: zhuang.z.ge@jyu.fi
  • †Contact author: sevestrean.alin@theory.nipne.ro
  • ‡Contact author: jouni.t.suhonen@jyu.fi
  • §Present address: Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany; Experimental Physics Department, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland.
  • ∥Present address: GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany.
  • Present address: Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), 71 Avenue des Martyrs, 38000 Grenoble, France.

Phys. Rev. C 114, 035501 – Published 10 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/bgj9-mzcq

Abstract

A high-precision measurement of the electron-capture (EC) decay Q value for the ground-state-to-ground-state (gs-to-gs) transition of Sn113 to In113 has been performed using the JYFLTRAP double Penning trap mass spectrometer. Employing the phase-imaging ion-cyclotron-resonance technique, the isomeric state of Sn113 at 77.389(19) keV was resolved, and the cyclotron frequency ratio was measured between the isomer Sn113m and the daughter nucleus In113. This yielded an isomer-to-ground-state Q value of 1116.64(19) keV and gs-to-gs Q value of 1039.25(19) keV. The atomic mass excess of Sn113 was determined as −88327.87(27)keV/c2, in excellent agreement with the Atomic Mass Evaluation 2020 (AME2020) but with a sixfold precision improvement. Using nuclear energy-level data for In113, we identified two low Q-value transitions of the ground state of Sn113 to excited states of In113 at 1024.280(50) keV (QEC*=14.97(20) keV, second forbidden non-unique) and 1029.650(50) keV (QEC*=9.60(20) keV, allowed). The allowed transition exhibits small energy differences [ΔL1=5.58(20) keV, ΔL2=5.87(20) keV] from L1 and L2 shell binding energies, enhancing endpoint events. Partial half-lives and energy-release spectra were calculated using the self-consistent Dirac-Hartree-Fock-Slater method (including exchange, overlap, shake-up, and shake-off corrections) together with the nuclear shell model and showed enhanced endpoint sensitivity for the allowed transition to the state at 1029.650 keV. Including subthreshold atomic states in the spectral function enhances the EC rate near the zero-neutrino-momentum region by a factor of 5, enabling new approaches for low-Q-value EC decays in neutrino mass studies.

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