$\mathcal{F}t$ values of the mirror $β$ transitions and the weak magnetism induced current in allowed nuclear $β$ decay

Abstract

In recent years a number of correlation measurements in nuclear $β$ decay have been performed reaching a precision of the order of 1\% and below and it is expected that even higher precision will be reached in the near future. At these levels of precision higher-order corrections due to e.g. recoil terms induced by the strong interaction and radiative corrections cannot necessarily be neglected anymore when interpreting these results in terms of new physics or extracting a value for the $V_{ud}$ quark-mixing matrix element. We provide here an update of the $\mathcal{F} t$ values of the $T=1/2$ mirror $β$ decays as well as an overview of current experimental and theoretical knowledge of the most important recoil term, weak magnetism, for both the $T=1/2$ mirror $β$ transitions and a large set of $β$ decays in higher isospin multiplets. The matrix elements determining weak magnetism were calculated in the nuclear shell model and cross-checked against experimental data, showing overall good agreement. Additionally, we show that further insight can be obtained from properly deformed nuclear potentials, in particular for mirror $T=1/2$ decays.. The results provide new insights in the size of weak magnetism, extending the available information to $β$ transitions of nuclei with masses up to $A =$ 75. This provides important guidance for the planning and interpretation of ongoing and new precise correlation measurements in nuclear $β$ decay searching for new physics or to extract the $V_{ud}$ quark-mixing matrix element in mirror $β$ decays. This more detailed knowledge of weak magnetism can also be of interest for further theoretical work related to the reactor neutrino problem.