Abstract: Background: beta-delayed multiple neutron emission has been observed for some nuclei with A <= 100 being the Rb-100 the heaviest beta 2n emitter measured to date. So far only 25 P-2n values have been determined for the approximate to 300 nuclei that may decay in this way. Accordingly it is of interest to measure P-2n values for the other possible multiple neutron emitters throughout the chart of the nuclides. It is of particular interest to make such a measurement for nuclei with A > 100 to test the predictions of theoretical models and simulation tools for the decays of heavy nuclei in the region of very neutron-rich nuclei. In addition the decay properties of these nuclei are fundamental for the understanding of astrophysical nucleosynthesis processes such as the r-process and safety inputs for nuclear reactors. Purpose: To determine for the first time the two-neutron branching ratio the P-2n value for Sb-136 through a direct neutron measurement and to provide precise P-1n values for Sb-136 and Te-136. Method: A pure beam of each isotope of interest was provided by the JYFLTRAP Penning trap at the Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line (IGISOL) facility of the University of Jyvaskyla Finland. The purified ions were implanted into a moving tape at the end of the beam line. The detection setup consisted of a plastic scintillator placed right behind the implantation point after the tape to register the beta decays and the BELEN detector based on neutron counters embedded in a polyethylene matrix. The analysis was based on the study of the beta- and neutron-growth-and-decay curves and the beta-one-neutron and beta-two-neutron time correlations which allowed us the determination of the neutron branching ratios. Results: The P-2n value of Sb-136 was found to be 0.14(3)% and the measured P-1n values for Sb-136 and Te-136 were found to be 32.2(15)% and 1.47(6)% respectively. Conclusions: The measured P-2n value is a factor 44 smaller than predicted by the finite-range droplet model plus the quasiparticle random-phase approximation (FRDM+QRPA) model used for r-process calculations.

Abstract: Stop searches in supersymmetric frameworks with R-parity conservation usually assume the lightest neutralino to be the lightest supersymmetric particle. In this paper we consider an alternative scenario in which the left-handed tau sneutrino is lighter than neutralinos and stable at collider scales, but possibly unstable at cosmological scales. Moreover the (mostly right-handed) stop (t) over tilde is lighter than all electroweakinos, and heavier than the scalars of the third generation lepton doublet, whose charged component, (T) over tilde, is heavier than the neutral one, (v) over tilde. The remaining supersymmetric particles are decoupled from the stop phenomenology. In most of the parameter space, the relevant stop decays are only into t (T) over tildeT, t (v) over tildev and b (v) over tildeT via off-shell electroweakinos. We constrain the branching ratios of these decays by recasting the most sensitive stop searches. Due to the “double invisible” kinematics of the (t) over tilde -> t (v) over tildev process, and the low efficiency in tagging the t (T) over tildeT decay products, light stops are generically allowed. In the minimal supersymmetric standard model with similar to 100 GeV sneutrinos, stops with masses as small as similar to 350 GeV turn out to be allowed at 95% CL.

Abstract: We report results on the long-term variation of the neutron counting rate at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory, of importance for several low-background experiments installed there, including rare-event searches. The measurement campaign was performed employing the High Efficiency Neutron Spectrometry Array (HENSA) mounted in Hall A and lasted 412 live days. The present study is the first long-term measurement of the neutron rate with sensitivity over a wide range of neutron energies (from thermal up to 0.1 GeV and beyond) performed in any underground laboratory so far. Data on the environmental variables inside the experimental hall (radon concentration, air temperature, air pressure and humidity) were also acquired during all the measurement campaign. We have investigated for the first time the evolution of the neutron rate for different energies of the neutrons and its correlation with the ambient variables.

Abstract: We report on the observation of a microsecond isomeric state in the single-proton-hole, three-neutron-particle nucleus In-134. The nuclei of interest were produced by in-flight fission of a U-238 beam at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory at RIKEN. The isomer depopulates through a gamma ray of energy 56.7(1) keV and with a half-life of T-1/2 = 3.5(4) μs. Based on the comparison with shell-model calculations, we interpret the isomer as the I-pi = 5(-) member of the pi 0g(9/2)(-1) circle times nu 1f(7/2)(3) multiplet, decaying to the I-pi = 7(-) ground state with a reduced-transition probability of B(E2; 5(-) -> 7(-)) = 0.53(6) W.u. Observation of this isomer, and lack of evidence in the current work for a I-pi = 5(-) isomer decay in In-132, provides a benchmark of the proton-neutron interaction in the region of the nuclear chart “southeast” of Sn-132, where experimental information on excited states is sparse.

Abstract: Isomeric states in the neutron-rich nuclei 111Zr [T1/2 = 0.10(7) μs], 113Nb [T1/2 = 0.7(4) μs], 115Mo [T1/2 = 46(3) μs] were first identified at the Radioactive Ion Beam Factory (RIBF) of RIKEN by using in-flight fission and fragmentation of a 238U beam at an energy of 345 MeV/u. This is a brief report of the gamma transitions de -exciting from isomeric states and half-lives measurements, which provides the first spectroscopy in the nuclear region of prolate-to-oblate shape-phase transition around mass A approximate to 110.