Weak interaction physics at ISOLDE

International audienceRadioactive nuclei offer unique possibilities to study the structure and symmetries of the weak interaction in nuclear β decay. The large variety of nuclear states available allows selecting the ones that are best suited to study the phenomena of interest with optimal sensitivity, while at the same time minimising the effects of nuclear structure. The ISOLDE facility, offering worldwide the largest variety and intensity of radioactive beams, is one of the best suited laboratories in this respect. Over the last decade or so different aspects of the weak interaction have been studied at ISOLDE, ranging from half-lives, branching ratios and nuclear masses relevant for the determination of the V ( )ud( ) quark-mixing matrix element, over β-asymmetry and $\beta \nu $ correlation measurements searching for possible tensor and/or scalar contributions to the weak interaction, up to a measurement showing the effect of parity violation in the weak interaction in gamma decay. In addition, new projects respectively searching for scalar currents in the β-delayed proton decay of (32)Ar, or to determine the V ( )ud( ) quark-mixing matrix element from the β-asymmetry parameter in the mirror decay of (35)Ar, have just started