Deep-underground search for the decay of $^{180\textrm{m}}\text {Ta}$ with an ultra-low-background HPGe detector - INSPIRE

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Deep-underground search for the decay of $^{180\textrm{m}}\text {Ta}$ with an ultra-low-background HPGe detector

R. Cerroni
(
- INFN, Aquila and
- L'Aquila U.
)
,
S. Dell'Oro
(
- INFN, Milan Bicocca and
- Milan Bicocca U.
)
,
A. Formicola
(
- INFN, Rome
)
,
S. Ghislandi
(
- INFN, Aquila and
- L'Aquila U. and
- GSSI, Aquila
)
,
L. Ioannucci
(
- Frascati
)

May 26, 2023

9 pages

Published in:

Eur.Phys.J.C 83 (2023) 10, 925

Published: Oct 13, 2023

e-Print:

2305.17238 [nucl-ex]

DOI:

10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-12087-5

View in:

reference search3 citations

Citations per year

Abstract: (Springer)

^{180\textrm{m}}\text {Ta}

is the longest-lived metastable state presently known. Its decay has not been observed yet. In this work, we report a new result on the decay of

^{180\textrm{m}}\text {Ta}

obtained with a 2015.12-g tantalum sample measured for 527.7 d with an ultra-low background HPGe detector in the STELLA laboratory of the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), in Italy. Before the measurement, the sample has been stored deep-underground for ten years, resulting in subdominant background contributions from cosmogenically activated

^{182}\text {Ta}

. We observe no signal in the regions of interest and set half-life limits on the process for the two channels EC and

\beta ^-

:

T_{1/2,~\textrm{EC}}> 1.6 \times 10^{18}

year and

T_{1/2,~\beta ^-}> 1.1\times 10^{18}

year (90% C. I.), respectively. We also set the limit on the

\gamma

de-excitation / IC channel:

T_{1/2,~\textrm{IC}}> 4.1 \times 10^{15}

year (90% C. I.). These are, as of now, the most stringent bounds on the decay of

^{180\textrm{m}}\text {Ta}

worldwide. Finally, we test the hypothetical scenarios of de-excitation of

^{180\textrm{m}}\text {Ta}

by cosmological Dark Matter and constrain new parameter space for strongly-interacting dark-matter particle with mass up to

10^5

GeV.

Note:

9 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables

dark matter
background
Gran Sasso
tantalum
nucleus: decay
lifetime
deep underground detector
experimental results
rare isotopes
forbidden β-decay

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