High-precision half-life determination of 14O via direct β counting
Abstract
The half-life of the superallowed Fermi β+ emitter 14O was determined to high precision via a direct
β counting experiment performed at the Isotope Separator and Accelerator (ISAC) facility at TRIUMF. The result,
T1/2(
14O) = 70619.2(76) ms, is consistent with, but is more
precise than, the world average obtained from 11 previous
measurements. Combining the 14O half-life deduced in the
present work with the previous most precise measurements
of this quantity leads to a reduction in the overall uncertainty, by nearly a factor of 2. The new world average is
T1/2(
14O) = 70619.6(63) ms with a reduced χ2 value of 0.87
obtained from 8 degrees of freedom.