The Angular Correlations in the $e^+e^-$ Decay of Excited States in 8Be

TL;DR

This paper reexamines the expected electron-positron angular correlations in 8Be decay, showing that the observed anomalies can be explained by energy-dependent multipole contributions without invoking new particles.

Contribution

The study provides a detailed theoretical analysis of nuclear decay multipoles, challenging previous assumptions of constant M1/E1 ratios and clarifying the interpretation of angular correlation anomalies.

Findings

Dominance of M1 and E1 decay modes at 18.15 MeV

Energy-dependent M1/E1 ratio affects angular distributions

No evidence found for axion decay in the studied resonance

Abstract

Motivated by the recent observation of anomalous electron-positron angular correlations in the decay of the 18.15 MeV 1+ excited states in 8Be, we reexamine in detail the Standard Model expectations for these angular correlations. The 18.15 MeV state is above particle threshold, and several multipoles can contribute to its $e^+e^-$ decay. We present the general theoretical expressions for $e^+e^-$ angular distributions for nuclear decay by C0, C1, C2 M1, E1, and E2 multipoles, and we examine their relative contribution to the $e^+e^-$ decay of 8Be at 18.15 MeV. We find that this resonance is dominated by M1 and E1 decay, and that the ratio of M1 to E1 strength is a strong function of energy. This is in contract to the original analysis of the $e^+e^-$ angular distributions, where the M1/E1 ratio was assumed to be a constant over the energy region Ep = 0:8-1:2 MeV. We find that the existence of a `bump' in the measured angular distribution is strongly dependent on the assumed M1/E1 ratio, with the present analysis finding the measured large-angle contributions to the $e^+e^-$ angular distribution to be lower than expectation. Thus, in the current analysis we find no evidence for axion decay in the 18.15 MeV resonance region of 8Be.