Low-background measurement of the half-life of decay
Phys. Rev. C 113, 014331 – Published 30 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jzlm-ckx6
Abstract
The origin of the so-called gallium anomaly in neutrino detection, first observed in the 1990s, remains an open question. The half-life of the nucleus plays a crucial role in addressing this issue, as it is directly related to the neutrino absorption cross section. Given its significance, and despite two recent measurements [Collar and Yoon, Phys. Rev. C 108, L021602 (2023) and Norman et al., Phys. Rev. C 109, 055501 (2024)] performed with similar techniques, there remains a need to verify these results using an independent experimental approach. In this work, we report a new measurement employing a different technique and obtain a half-life of = 11.476 0.004 days. This result is consistent with previous values but achieves the highest precision to date. Our findings confirm that the gallium anomaly cannot be attributed to an unexpectedly longer half-life of , thereby leaving the anomaly's origin unresolved.