Study of the Beta decay strength of ²⁸Ne to ²⁸Na

The modern nuclear shell model, so called configuration interaction model, describes nuclear states using a basis of simple wavefunctions in an external potential and a residual interaction between nucleons. To solve the shell-model Hamiltonian, we use a modern diagonalization code called Kshell, and with it we calculate the energies of excited states following nuclear transformations such as beta-decay. Using Kshell with the SDPF-MU interaction, we calculated the beta decay strength of ²⁸Ne to ²⁸Na using 100 energy levels for the calculation. The data was then analyzed to isolate the excitation energy and beta decay energy of the transition from ²⁸Ne to ²⁸Na, expanding the previous energy range of 6MeV to 14MeV. An updated experimental spectrum of the gamma-ray events following the beta decay of ²⁸Ne to ²⁸Na and ²⁸Na to ²⁸Mg were investigated, noting peaks in the spectrum corresponding to gamma-ray events of a particular energy. These peaks were compared to the gamma-ray events of ²⁸Ne to ²⁸Na published in “β-delayed γ spectroscopy of neutron rich 27,28,29Na” by Tripathi et al, 2006, as well as datasets from the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data Files. Of the reported gamma-ray events, 8 were observed in the experimental data investigated, with 3 others not previously reported. The efficiency of measurement for each of these gamma-ray events were calculated and used along with fitting information to get the intensity of the gamma-ray events; for the 2063 KeV transition we found a value of 3102.74 events.