Precision calculation of the 23Ne half-life

Abstract

β decay is a common process atomic nuclei go through to end up in a more stable state. In this work I evaluate new nuclear matrix elements in order to obtain a correction to the half-life of the 23Ne β decay. I use the shell model code Nathan to evaluate the wave functions of 23Ne and 23Na and the nuclear matrix elements. The new correction reduces the nuclear matrix element of the decay of 23Ne by about 1%. This prediction can be compared with state-of-the-art experiments that search for physics beyond the Standard Model in β decay measurements