High-Precision Measurement of the 19Ne Half-Life and Implications for Right-Handed Weak Currents

TL;DR

This paper presents a highly precise measurement of the 19Ne half-life, which challenges previous results and has implications for testing right-handed weak currents beyond the Standard Model.

Contribution

It provides a new, more accurate half-life measurement of 19Ne and discusses systematic effects affecting such measurements, impacting bounds on new physics.

Findings

Measured 19Ne half-life as 17.262 ± 0.007 s

Discovered and analyzed systematic effects influencing measurements

Recommends reassessment of previous lifetime measurements

Abstract

We report a precise determination of the 19Ne half-life to be $T_{1/2} = 17.262 \pm 0.007$ s. This result disagrees with the most recent precision measurements and is important for placing bounds on predicted right-handed interactions that are absent in the current Standard Model. We are able to identify and disentangle two competing systematic effects that influence the accuracy of such measurements. Our findings prompt a reassessment of results from previous high-precision lifetime measurements that used similar equipment and methods.