Allowed and Forbidden transitions

The emission of the electron or positron from the nucleus is hindered by

the Coulomb and angular momentum barriers
(similar to the case for the -decay)

Minimum hindrance when


( e )  0 angular momentum for electron/positron
 angular momentum for neutrino/anti-neutrino
( )  0

Therefore, there will be maximum probability for β-decay when

  
L  (e )  ( )  0 Allowed transitions.


L  0 Forbidden transitions.
 Classification of β-decay

      
J P  J D  L  S  L  e  
L where 
 P   D ( 1)  
S   se  sv

Allowed transition L  0 P  D

1st forbidden L  1  P   D

2nd forbidden L  2 P  D

and so on. First forbidden is more probable than 2nd…


Fermi type S   0

Gamow-Teller type S   1
Example
Fig. 5
 p   D
(odd values of Lβ)
 Forbidden transition

Change in angular momentum = 3 (Minimum value of L is considered)

   
J P  L  S   J D
   
4  3  S  1
S   0 or 1 both possible.  Both Fermi type and Gamow-Teller type

1st three terms in the expansion (eq. (7)) will be zero called 3rd forbidden
 Symmetry breaking in beta-decay (parity violation)
Parity operation
 x , y, z     x ,  y,  z 
Fig. 6
Fig. 6

The parity operation changes a

right-handed coordinate system
to the left-handed

 
 r (measuredby R.H.C)   r (measuredby R.H.C)
P
 
 r (measuredby R.H.C.) 
P   r (measuredby L.H.C.)
 Fig. 7

Points 1 and 2 : In the positive quadrant of R.H.C. (say),

Points (1) and (2) : In the positive quadrant of L.H.C.

Mirror reflection
In the above orientation of axes, mirror is placed perpendicular to the
y-axis.
In a system where parity is not conserved, the total wavefunction should
contain a parity-even and a parity-odd components, i.e.
  c even  c odd where c 2  c 2  1
1 2 1 2

Pˆ   c1 even  c2 odd   
 Hˆ , Pˆ   0
 
 Hamiltonian should contain pseudoscalar quantities apart from only
scalar quantities, then the parity will no longer be a conserved quantity.

In general, an operator made of a mixture of scalars and pseudoscalars, or

a mixture of vectors and axial vectors, does not have a definite parity, as a
result the parity will not be conserved in its action.
Weak interaction Hamiltonian

For strong and electromagnetic interactions, parity is strictly conserved.

• The suspicion of parity violation in weak interaction, originated from
the observations made of the decay of K+-meson.

• Theoretically, Lee & Yang (1956) proposed that the parity is not
conserved in weak interaction processes (the process involving
leptons).

• In 1957, it was lady Wu and her coworkers set out to measure possible
60
asymmetry in the electron emission from 27 Co relative to its initial
spin direction.
60 60
27 Co is a β emitter which decays to 28 Ni ; 5  4 Gamow-Teller
 + +

transition (Fig. 9).

 Experiment
 60
Initial spins J i of 27 Co were aligned in a particular direction by the
action of external magnetic field at low temp. (T  0.01 K).

The direction of emission pe was observed.
(represented by an  in Fig. 10)

 Experimental data points, Fig. 10

The no. of electrons emitted

per unit time is proportional
to the length of the arrow.
I ( )  A  B cos 

 is the angle between



pe vector and J i
 Fig. 11

[ More electrons come out in the [ Shows more electrons

direction opposite to Ji ] coming out in the direction of Ji ]
Image cannot be the physical reality.
 Parity is violated.
The experiment indicated the parity violation through the observation

of a non-zero value of pe .J i (a pseudoscalar quantity)

 appearance of pseudoscalar terms in the interaction

describing the weak-interaction process.

 Hˆ , Pˆ   0
 

Ĥ  Hamiltonian corresponding to weak

interaction process.
 Explanation for parity violation in β-decay

Intrinsic property of leptons: helicity

(neutrino and antineutrino are distinguished by helicity quantum number)

Right-handed:
Linear momentum is in the same direction as intrinsic spin direction.

Left-handed:
Linear momentum is in opposite direction to the intrinsic spin direction.

Define ‘helicity’ quantum number

 

ˆh  . p Where
1  
 s
p 2

Antineutrino  helicity = +1
Neutrino  helicity = 1
 How does the concept of ‘helicity’ explain the parity violation?

Assuming the recoiless daughter nucleus in β-decay

 60
27 Co 

 60
28 Ni  e 
 
Linear momenta of electron and antineutrino are almost equal and
opposite.

Above decay is Gamow-Teller decay

     
L  e  v  0 and S   se  sv  1

 Intrinsic spins of electron and antineutrino are in the same

direction.

Also, the direction of linear momentum and spin are same for
antineutrino (helicity).
 Vectorially

 
Direction of pe is opposite to J i .

Since the assumption of recoiless daughter is not exact, there will also be
some emission of electrons other than the above mentioned direction. 
The preferential direction of emission of electron is still opposite to J i .
 -decay

Nuclei in the excited state decay to the lower energy state via the
emission of gamma photon (eventually decaying to the ground state)

 In the process of γ-decay the

nucleus remains the same, i.e. the
(Z, N) of the nucleus does not
change unlike the case for β and -
decays.

 Once the nucleus decays to its

ground state by γ-emissions, it may
be an unstable nucleus and will
decay to a stable one by β-decay.
 The γ-decay (electromagnetic transition) occurs due to the interaction
of nucleus with the external electromagnetic field. The strength of
interaction is called the “coupling constant”.

 The theory of electromagnetic interaction is well understood and the

full discussion requires the quantized equations of electromagnetic
field (not to be discussed here).

 We can understand the main features of γ-decay using semi-classical

arguments; one can write down an approximate expression for the
interaction energy between a nucleus and a photon.
 Classical electrodynamics

An electromagnetic wave is an oscillating electric and magnetic field; the

changing electric field induces a magnetic field and the changing
magnetic field induces an electric field

 Such a wave can be generated by an oscillating electric charge which

sets up an oscillating electric field or by an oscillating electric current
which sets up an oscillating magnetic field.

 If the photons comes out due to the oscillation of charges, it is called

electric multipole (E - l) type and if it is due to the oscillation of
electric current, it is called the magnetic multipole (M - l) type.
 Selection rules for γ-emission

 The photon is a boson, it must carry an integral amount of angular

momentum. Minimum value of angular momentum carried is 1 .

 The conservation of energy, angular momentum and parity must hold

good.

(i) E  E1  E 2
  
(ii) J i  J f  J 

(iii)  i   f

For Electric type   ( E   )  ( 1)

For Magnetic type   ( M   )  ( 1) 1 Here   J 

Example:
Find the properties of the emitted γ.

Energy: E = E1 – E2
Angular momentum : 2, 3, 4, 5
Parity:  i   f Fig. 15

( 1)  ( 1)      1

For angular momentum   2 Multipolarity

  ( E  2)  ( 1)2  1  E2
Similarly for   3
1    ( M  3)  ( 1)31  M3 and so on.

Therefore, multipolarity of the emitted gammas E2, M3, E4, M5.

The probability decreases with increasing the multipolarity 
 Weisskopf estimate for the transition probability
(single particle estimate)

The nucleons inside the nucleus are in definite quantum state. The
transition probability is given by the Weisskopf estimate when there is a
γ-decay between the two states differing by only one nucleon
configuration.

The transition probabilities are given as (  in s1)

T ( E 1)  1.0  1014 A2/3 E3 , T ( M 1)  3.1  1013 E3 ,

T ( E 2)  7.3  107 A4/3 E5 , T ( M 2)  2.2  107 A2/3 E5 ,
T ( E 3)  34 A2 E7 , T ( M 3)  10 A4/3 E7 ,
T ( E 4)  1.1  105 A8/3 E9 , T ( M 4)  3.3  106 A2 E9 .

where E is in MeV.
 Internal conversion
(another mode of nuclear decay from higher to lower excited states)

 The nucleus gives directly its energy to one of the outer electrons and
the electron gets sufficient energy to come out.

Energy of the emitted electron  Ee = E - Wi

where E is the gamma energy for the decay i.e. E = Ei - Ef
and Wi is the binding energy of the electron, i can be K, L, M……..

 Internal conversion process is a competing process for γ-decay and there

is always some probability for the decay to happen by internal
conversion process.
Internal conversion coefficient ‘α’
T N where Tie : Prob. for electron emission
  ie  e
T N T : Prob. for γ-emission
Ne : no. of electrons emitted per unit time.
   K   L   M  ...........

Electrons are emitted with different energies E –WK, E – WL……….and

decreasing probability. This is because the innermost electrons have the
maximum probability to be emitted as there is always some probability
for finding an electron inside the nucleus.

Decay of type
0+  0+
γ- decay is strictly forbidden because a photon must carry at least one
unit of angular momentum.
 the decay will fully proceed by conversion electrons.
 Example 1

3
A nuclear excited state decays by an E2 transition to the ground state.
2
(a) List the possible spin-parity (Iπ) assignments of the excited state.
(b) If there is no evidence of decay by an M1 transition, what is the Iπ of
the excited state most likely to be?

Result:
    
(a) 1 , 3 , 5 , 7 (b) 7
2 2 2 2 2
 Example 2

The low-lying spectrum

of 207Pb is shown in the
Fig. 16. Verify the
multipolarities of the
transitions. Give the
single particle estimate
of the half-life of all
states; suggest which
state is isomeric.