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Search for alpha and double alpha decays of natural Nd isotopes accompanied by gamma quanta

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Abstract

From 7 naturally occurring Nd isotopes, 5 are unstable in relation to α decay. If an excited level of the daughter nucleus is populated, or the daughter nucleus is unstable, γ quanta can be emitted. We used an ultra-low background spectrometry system with 4 high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors (about 225 cm3 volume each) to search for such decays using a highly purified Nd-containing sample with mass of 2.381 kg. Measurements were performed at the INFN Gran Sasso underground laboratory (with an overburden of about 3600 m w.e.) during 51,237 h. Half-life limits for α decays of 143Nd and 145Nd were determined to be T1/2(143Nd) > 1.1 × 1020 year and T1/2(145Nd) > 2.7 × 1019 year at 90% C.L. This is an increase of three and two orders of magnitude, respectively, compared with the most restrictive values currently given in literature. A limit for α decay of 144Nd to the excited level of 140Ce with Eexc = 1596.2 keV was determined for the first time as T1/2(144Nd → 140Ce*) > 9.3 × 1020 year. Restriction for the α decay of 146Nd to the excited level of 142Ce with Eexc = 641.3 keV was increased by 3 orders of magnitude to T1/2(146Nd → 142Ce*) > 1.4 × 1021 year. For α and 2α decays of 148Nd, first T1/2 limits were set as 4.2 × 1018 year and 2.1 × 1020 year, respectively.

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Data Availability Statement

This manuscript has no associated data or the data will not be deposited. [Authors’ comment: The data produced in this study are contained in the publication.]

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine (Grant No. 2020.02/0011), and by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Reg. No. 0122U002206). V.V. Kobychev is grateful to the Georgia Institute of Technology for kind support within the Universities for Ukraine (U4U) Non-Residential Fellowship Program. We thank A.S. Barabash, S.I. Konovalov and V.I. Umatov for supplying the Nd2O3 material and for earlier useful discussions on measurements devoted to search for 150Nd 2β decay. We are grateful to S. Nisi and F. Ferella for ICP-MS measurements and chemical analyses of the Nd-containing material, and to I.B.-K. Shcherbakov, A. Timonina and V.S. Tinkova for the chemical analyses which were used in our previous work on 2β decay. We thank anonymous reviewers whose comments lead to improvement of the paper. This research was conducted under well-known difficult circumstances and thus we would like to thank all the international collaborators for providing their kind support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INFN Sezione Roma “Tor Vergata”, 00133, Rome, Italy

    P. Belli, R. Bernabei, V. Caracciolo, R. Cerulli, F. A. Danevich, A. Leoncini & V. Merlo

  2. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”, 00133, Rome, Italy

    P. Belli, R. Bernabei, V. Caracciolo, R. Cerulli, A. Leoncini & V. Merlo

  3. Institute for Nuclear Research of NASU, Kiev, 03028, Ukraine

    R. S. Boiko, F. A. Danevich, D. V. Kasperovych, V. V. Kobychev, O. G. Polischuk, N. V. Sokur & V. I. Tretyak

  4. National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, 03041, Ukraine

    R. S. Boiko

  5. INFN Sezione Roma, 00185, Rome, Italy

    F. Cappella, A. Incicchitti & O. G. Polischuk

  6. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, 00185, Rome, Italy

    F. Cappella & A. Incicchitti

  7. INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67100, Assergi, AQ, Italy

    M. Laubenstein & V. I. Tretyak

  8. Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS/IN2P3, IJCLab, 91405, Orsay, France

    D. V. Poda

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  1. P. Belli
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Correspondence to R. Bernabei.

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Communicated by Robert Janssens

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Belli, P., Bernabei, R., Boiko, R.S. et al. Search for alpha and double alpha decays of natural Nd isotopes accompanied by gamma quanta. Eur. Phys. J. A 60, 46 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-024-01260-3

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