High-precision branching-ratio measurement for the superallowedβ+emitter26Alm

A high-precision branching ratio measurement for the superallowed {beta}{sup +} decay of {sup 62}Ga was performed at the Isotope Separator and Accelerator (ISAC) radioactive ion beam facility. The 8{pi} spectrometer, an array of 20 high-purity germanium detectors, was employed to detect the {gamma} rays emitted following Gamow-Teller and nonanalog Fermi {beta}{sup +} decays of {sup 62}Ga, and the SCEPTAR plastic scintillator array was used to detect the emitted {beta} particles. Thirty {gamma} rays were identified following {sup 62}Ga decay, establishing the superallowed branching ratio to be 99.858(8)%. Combined with the world-average half-life and a recent high-precision Q-value measurement for {sup 62}Ga, this branching ratio yields an ft value of 3074.3{+-}1.1 s, making {sup 62}Ga among the most precisely determined superallowed ft values. Comparison between the superallowed ft value determined in this work and the world-average corrected Ft value allows the large nuclear-structure-dependent correction for {sup 62}Ga decay to be experimentally determined from the CVC hypothesis to better than 7% of its own value, the most precise experimental determination for any superallowed emitter. These results provide a benchmark for the refinement of the theoretical description of isospin-symmetry breaking in A{>=}62 superallowed decays.