Who Cares About Nuclear Beta Decay; Reactor Decay Heat, Astrophysical r-Process, and the Reactor Neutrino Anomalies and their Connections to Beta Decay

Charlie Rasco
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Abstract

Beta decay has been a staple of nuclear physics since the 1930's. And understanding the fundamentals of beta decay is still at the fore-front of nuclear physics. But in addition to understanding the fundamentals of beta decay, precise experimental knowledge of beta decay has become important in recent years. Accurate knowledge of the beta-decay properties of unstable nuclei are important to understand energy release after fission, including whether the energy is released as, beta rays (electrons), gamma rays, neutrons, or neutrinos and antineutrinos. In addition to the description of nuclear reactor physics, beta decay plays an important role in the production of heavy nuclei in the universe. One astrophysical process that is based on nuclear data and beta decay properties is the r process. The r process proceeds through extremely neutron rich nuclei where there is very little experimentally measured nuclear data. Recent measurements at the RIKEN facility in Japan and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee are starting to reach out to these exotic nuclei. I will present the importance of beta-decay data on scientific various endeavors and the impact of the latest beta-decay measurements on these endeavors.