The dark matter search discovered a spectacular bonus: the longest-lived unstable element ever
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But different combinations aren’t stable, and will spontaneously either emit or capture one or more particles, transforming into a different element or isotope in the process. Carbon-14, for example, contains six protons and eight neutrons. If we observe carbon-14 for long enough, we’ll find that it’s unstable: it will radioactively decay into nitrogen-14, emitting an electron and an antineutrino in the process.
This graph shows the amount of a radioactive sample that remains after several half-lives have passed. After one half-life, half the sample is left; after two half-lives, one half of the remainder is left; and after three half-lives, one half of that is left. This applies to many types of natural processes, including any type of radioactive decay that results in the transmutation of elements.
An alpha-decay is a process where a heavier atomic nucleus emits an alpha particle , resulting in a more stable configuration and releasing energy.But there are even rarer decays that can occur, and they can be seen when the more common decay pathways are either suppressed or forbidden. Some nuclei undergo inverse beta decay: transforming a proton into a neutron by emitting a positron and a neutrino, dropping down one element on the periodic table.
The XENON1T detector, with its low-background cryostat, is installed in the centre of a large water shield to protect the instrument against cosmic ray backgrounds. This setup enables the scientists working on the XENON1T experiment to greatly reduce their background noise, and more confidently discover the signals from processes they're attempting to study.The XENON collaboration possesses exactly the type of environment that should be sensitive to rare processes like these.
It's also a testament to the contributions of the collaboration's members who add a wide variety of skills and specialties."Observing such a rare process would not have been possible without the joint work of analysers as well as of the people who have built and operated the detector," according to scientist Christian Wittweg, a coauthor on the discovery paper.
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