Bremsstrahlung in alpha-Decay Reexamined

TL;DR

This study presents high-statistics measurements of bremsstrahlung in 210Po alpha decay, confirming theoretical models and revealing interference effects between electric dipole and quadrupole contributions affecting angular correlations.

Contribution

The paper provides detailed experimental data up to 500 keV and compares it with both quasi-classical and quantum mechanical theoretical calculations, highlighting interference effects.

Findings

Measured photon spectra agree with theoretical predictions.

Interference between electric dipole and quadrupole contributions significantly affects angular correlations.

Experimental data extends understanding of bremsstrahlung in alpha decay.

Abstract

A high-statistics measurement of bremsstrahlung emitted in the alpha decay of 210Po has been performed, which allows to follow the photon spectra up to energies of ~ 500 keV. The measured differential emission probability is in good agreement with our theoretical results obtained within the quasi classical approximation as well as with the exact quantum mechanical calculation. It is shown that due to the small effective electric dipole charge of the radiating system a significant interference between the electric dipole and quadrupole contributions occurs, which is altering substantially the angular correlation between the alpha particle and the emitted photon.