Progress towards precision measurements of beta-decay correlation parameters using atom and ion traps

Understand

The correlations of the decay products following the beta decay of nuclei have a long history of providing a low-energy probe of the fundamental symmetries of our universe.

• Over half a century ago, the correlation of the electrons following the decay of polarized 60Co demonstrated that parity is not conserved in weak interactions.
• Today, the same basic idea continues to be applied to search for physics beyond the standard model: make precision measurements of correlation parameters and look for deviations compared to their standard model predictions.
• Efforts to measure these parameters to the 0.1% level utilizing atom and ion trapping techniques are described.