Speaker
Description
In electron capture processes, an electron of the parent atom is captured by the nucleus and an electron neutrino is emitted, leaving the daughter atom in an excited state. Precise calculations of the atomic de-excitation processes can be performed for isolated atoms. In practice, radioactive decay occurs with the atom in a medium. We present the possibility to study effects the environment has on the $^7$Be electron capture spectrum. $^7$Be is the lightest nuclide to undergo electron capture, with a half-life of about 53 days and a $Q$-value of about 862 keV. For this study, $^7$Be is ion-implanted into the three host materials gold, silver, and aluminum, which are each deposited onto the absorbers of low temperature metallic magnetic calorimeters. Our goal is to investigate the half-life, L/K ratio, and the energy distribution of the nuclear recoil for different host materials. The measured spectra will be compared to spectra derived by \textit{ab initio} calculations. A deeper understanding of environment-induced effects on a decaying atom and a better model for nuclear recoils in a crystal will yield important results for experiments using $^{163}$Ho for the determination of the neutrino mass scale, for the detection of coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering, and for the direct detection of dark matter.
| Collaboration | ECHo Collaboration |
|---|
