Atomic masses of tritium and helium-3

By measuring the cyclotron frequency ratios of (3)He(+) to HD(+) and T(+) to HD(+), and using HD(+) as a mass reference, we obtain new atomic masses for (3)He and T. Our results are M[(3)He]=3.016 029 322 43(19) u and M[T]=3.016 049 281 78(19) u, where the uncertainty includes an uncertainty of 0....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Physical review letters Vol. 114; no. 1; p. 013003
Main Authors:	Myers, E G, Wagner, A, Kracke, H, Wesson, B A
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States 09-01-2015
Subjects:	Atomic properties Cancellation Cyclotron frequency Helium-3 Q values Systematic errors Tritium Uncertainty
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	By measuring the cyclotron frequency ratios of (3)He(+) to HD(+) and T(+) to HD(+), and using HD(+) as a mass reference, we obtain new atomic masses for (3)He and T. Our results are M[(3)He]=3.016 029 322 43(19) u and M[T]=3.016 049 281 78(19) u, where the uncertainty includes an uncertainty of 0.12 nu in the mass reference. Allowing for cancellation of common systematic errors, we find the Q value for tritium β decay to be (M[T]-M[(3)He])c(2)=18 592.01(7) eV. This allows an improved test of systematics in measurements of tritium β decay that set limits on neutrino mass.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0031-9007 1079-7114
DOI:	10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.013003