β -delayed three-proton decay of 31 Ar

Description

The β decay of Ar31, produced by fragmentation of an Ar36 beam at 880 MeV/nucleon, was investigated. Identified ions of Ar31 were stopped in a gaseous time projection chamber with optical readout allowing us to record decay events with emission of protons. In addition to β-delayed emission of one and two protons we clearly observed the β-delayed three-proton branch. The branching ratio for this channel in Ar31 is found to be 0.07±0.02%.

Additional details