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Beta-Delayed Neutron Emission of N=84 Cd132

M. Madurga1, Z. Y. Xu1, R. Grzywacz1, M. R. Mumpower2,3,4, A. N. Andreyev5, G. Benzoni6, M. J. G. Borge7, C. Costache8, I. Cox1 et al.

S. Cupp9, B. Dimitrov10, P. Van Duppen11, L. M. Fraile12,7, S. Franchoo13, H. Fynbo14, B. Gonsalves15, A. Gottardo13, P. T. Greenless15, A. Gross9, C. J. Gross16, L. J. Harkness-Brennan17, M. Huyse11, D. S. Judson17, S. Kisyov8, K. Kolos18, J. Konki15, J. Kurcewicz7, I. Lazarus19, R. Lică7, L. Lynch7, M. Lund14, N. Marginean8, R. Marginean8, C. Mihai8, I. Marroquin20, C. Mazzocchi21, D. Mengoni22, A. I. Morales23, E. Nacher23, A. Negret8, R. D. Page17, S. Pascu8, S. V. Paulauskas1, A. Perea20, M. Piersa-Siłkowska1,12,21, V. Pucknell19, P. Rahkila15, E. Rapisarda7, F. Rotaru8, C. Sotty11, S. Taylor1, O. Tengblad20, V. Vedia12, D. Verney13, R. Wadsworth5, N. Warr17,24, and H. de Witte11

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA
  • 2Obsidian Research, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46835, USA
  • 3Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA
  • 4Computational and Artificial Intelligence Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
  • 5School of Physics, Engineering and Technology, University of York, North Yorkshire YO10 5DD, United Kingdom
  • 6Dipartimento di Fisica and INFN, Sezione di Milano, Milano, Italy
  • 7CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland
  • 8“Horia Hulubei” National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, RO-077125 Bucharest, Romania
  • 9Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
  • 10Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy, BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria
  • 11Instituut voor Kern- en Stralingsfysica, K.U. Leuven, BE-3001 Leuven, Belgium
  • 12Grupo de Física Nuclear, EMFTEL and IPARCOS, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, E-28040 Madrid, Spain
  • 13Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS/IN2P3, IJCLab, 91405 Orsay, France
  • 14Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
  • 15Department of Physics, P.O. Box 64, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
  • 16Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, USA
  • 17Department of Physics, Oliver Lodge Laboratory, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZE, United Kingdom
  • 18Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA
  • 19STFC Daresbury, Daresbury, Warrington WA4 4AD, United Kingdom
  • 20Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, CSIC, E-28040 Madrid, Spain
  • 21Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, Warszawa PL 00-681, Poland
  • 22INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Padova, Italy
  • 23Instituto de Física Corpuscular, CSIC Universidad de Valencia, E-46071 Valencia, Spain
  • 24Institut für Kernphysik, Universität zu Köln, 50937 Köln, Germany

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 232504 – Published 11 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/z93q-9g6y

Abstract

Using the time-of-flight technique, we measured the beta-delayed neutron emission of Cd132. From our large-scale shell model (LSSM) calculation using the N3LO interaction [, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 022501 (2023)], we suggest the decay is dominated by the transformation of a neutron in the g7/2 orbital, deep below the Fermi surface, into a proton in the g9/2 orbital. We compare the beta-decay half-lives and neutron branching ratios of nuclei with Z<50 and N≥82 obtained with our LSSM with those of leading “global” models such as finite-range droplet model (FRDM). Our calculations match known half-lives and neutron branching ratios well and suggest that current leading models overestimate the yet-to-be-measured half-lives. Our model, backed by the Cd132 decay data presented here, offers robust predictive power for nuclei of astrophysical interest such as r-process waiting points.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 232504– Published 11 June, 2026
  • Received 5 December 2024
  • Accepted 6 May 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by CERN.

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