Nucleon-nucleon short-ranged correlations, β decay, and the unitarity of the CKM matrix

The influence of nucleon-nucleon short-ranged correlations (SRC) on nuclear superallowed beta decay is examined. The need for this is driven by the observed depletion of spectroscopic strength obtained in studies of (e, e') and (d, He-3) reactions on a wide variety of nuclei. We show that the influence of SRC is model dependent, but may be very substantial. The V-46 nucleus is used as an example. The resulting impact on studies of the unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix element is discussed.

Automated summary

The influence of nucleon-nucleon short-ranged correlations (SRC) on nuclear superallowed beta decay is examined in this study. The findings suggest that the influence of SRC is significant and has implications for the unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix element.