Journal article

Publication year: 2008

Pages: 330-334

Journal: Physics Letters B

Volume number: 661

Issue number: 4

ISSN: 0370-2693

eISSN: 1873-2445

Open access status: Hybrid

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2008.02.027

Publisher: Elsevier

Abstract: 
The resonance strength of the two-step process of nuclear excitation by electron capture followed by gamma decay of the nucleus can be significantly increased in highly charged ions if the resonant capture proceeds via an excited electronic state with subsequent fast x-ray emission. For fully ionized U-238(92) and Th-232(90) the x-ray decay stabilizes the system against internal conversion of the captured electron, with an increase of both nuclear lifetimes and resonance strengths of up to two orders of magnitude compared with the case when occupied atomic orbitals prevent the x-ray de-excitation. Applications of this effect to the measurement of the not yet experimentally observed nuclear excitation by electron capture and to dense astrophysical plasmas are discussed. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Harvard Citation style: Palffy, A., Harman, Z., Kozhuharov, C., Brandau, C., Keitel, C., Scheid, W., et al. (2008) Nuclear excitation by electron capture followed by fast x-ray emission, Physics Letters B, 661(4), pp. 330-334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2008.02.027

APA Citation style: Palffy, A., Harman, Z., Kozhuharov, C., Brandau, C., Keitel, C., Scheid, W., & Stoehlker, T. (2008). Nuclear excitation by electron capture followed by fast x-ray emission. Physics Letters B. 661(4), 330-334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2008.02.027