$β$-Decay Properties of Neutron-rich Yttrium Isotopes

Abstract

In this study, we have reported key nuclear properties of weak $β$-decay processes on Yttrium isotopes for the mass number range $A = 101 - 108$. This mass region is important in astrophysical $r$-process abundances. Our study might be helpful in $r$-process simulations. We have computed charge-changing strength distributions, $β$-decay half-lives, $β$-delayed neutron emission probabilities, and $β^{-}$ (EC) weak rates under stellar conditions. We have performed microscopic calculations based on deformed proton-neutron quasi-particle random phase approximation (pn-QRPA) over a wide temperature ($10^7 - 3 \times 10^{10}$) K and density ($10 - 10^{11}$) g/cm$^3$ domain. Unique first-forbidden (U1F) transitions have been included in the calculations in addition to the allowed transitions. A significant decrease in calculated half-lives in certain cases, e.g., in $^{107}$Y ($^{108}$Y) by about 67\% (42\%), has been observed because of the contribution from U1F transitions. We have compared present results with measured and theoretical works. A good agreement of our half-lives with experimental data is observed.