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Tritium β-decay and pp fusion in Pionless Effective Field Theory

ORAL

Abstract

At low energies, pp fusion, which is relevant for stellar and Big Bang nucleosynthesis, and tritium β-decay both depend on a two-nucleon axial current contribution described by the low-energy constant L1,A at next-to-leading order (NLO). Using pionless effective field theory, we compute the Fermi and Gamow-Teller matrix elements of tritium β-decay up to NLO. We then extract the L1,A parameter from the tritium half-life and use it to predict the transition matrix element for pp fusion. We will also discuss the consequences of Wigner-SU(4) symmetry in the calculation of the Fermi and Gamow-Teller matrix elements for tritium β-decay.

Presenters

  • Ha S Nguyen

    Duke University

Authors

  • Ha S Nguyen

    Duke University

  • Jared Vanasse

    Fitchburg State University