Simulations of beta-decay of 6He in an Electrostatic Ion Trap

TL;DR

This paper explores the use of an Electrostatic Ion Beam Trap for studying beta decay of 6He, aiming to improve detection efficiency and sensitivity to new physics beyond the standard model.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of the Electrostatic Ion Beam Trap for fundamental interaction studies, with preliminary simulations and analysis.

Findings

Potential advantages over existing traps include higher efficiency and larger solid angle.

Preliminary Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate feasibility.

Error analysis suggests promising sensitivity improvements.

Abstract

Trapped radioactive atoms present exciting opportunities for the study of fundamental interactions and symmetries. For example, detecting beta decay in a trap can probe the minute experimental signal that originates from possible tensor or scalar terms in the weak interaction. Such scalar or tensor terms affect, e.g., the angular correlation between a neutrino and an electron in the beta-decay process, thus probing new physics of beyond-the-standard-model nature. The present system focuses on a novel use of an innovative ion trapping device, the Electrostatic Ion Beam Trap. Such a trap has not been previously considered for Fundamental Interaction studies and exhibits potentially very significant advantages over other schemes. These advantages include improved injection efficiency of the radionuclide under study, an extended field-free region, ion-beam kinematics for better efficiency and ease-of operation and the potential for a much larger solid angle for the electron and recoiling atom counters. The beta-decay of trapped 6He is discussed and preliminary Monte-Carlo (MC) simulation and error-analysis considerations are presented.