Beta Decay: Current Theoretical and Experimental Challenges

Beta decay is an almost ubiquitous process in the nuclide chart, representing the most common element transmutation process in nuclei. It can provide information on fundamental physics related to the weak interaction and because of its selectivity, it can also be a valuable source of information on nuclear structure. Beta decay is also relevant for multiple practical applications and plays a crucial role in different astrophysical environments that ultimately provide the explanation of the abundance of the elements in our Universe.

The goal of this Research Topic aims to review the current status of nuclear beta decay at both experimental and theoretical level, as well as the most recent achievements and the future perspectives. There will also be room for the identification of current challenges and open questions that will eventually determine the future of the field. With this purpose in mind, review contributions from experts in this community will be collected, where an updated overview of the field will be presented. Contributions reporting recent original results and work in progress will also be gathered.

We expect experimental contributions from complementary techniques that will provide new information on nuclear structure in different regions of the nuclide chart. Experimental beta decay studies of relevance for a wide range of practical and interdisciplinary applications will also be addressed. From a theoretical point of view, we expect contributions addressing issues related with the different theoretical approaches used to deal with the nuclear structure involved in the beta-decay problem, as well as with new developments in progress.

Nuclear Physics plays a relevant role in Astrophysics and in particular beta decay provides the necessary input to model various nucleosynthesis processes that take place in different astrophysical scenarios. Examples are the rapid proton (rp process) and the rapid neutron (r process). One of the purposes of this research topic will be to study the impact that beta decay has on those nucleosynthesis processes.

In recent years, thanks to the identification of the most relevant decays and the application of the total absorption technique, considerable progress has been obtained in summation calculations of both the decay heat and the antineutrino spectrum from reactors. This progress also helped to shed light into the reactor antineutrino anomaly. Groups working on these topics will be contacted for an update of the field. Experts working in beta decays relevant for medical physics will also be invited to participate.

The contributions should address issues related with the impact of beta decay in the following topics:

• Beta decay and fundamental physics (double beta decay, CVC, gA renormalization).
• Nuclear structure and effective nuclear interaction.
• Theoretical approaches. Allowed and forbidden decays.
• Beta-delayed proton and neutron emission.
• TAS measurements.
• Reactor decay heat and reactor antineutrinos.
• Stellar and explosive nucleosynthesis.
• Beta decay in medical physics.

We welcome all article types: Brief Research Report, Hypothesis & Theory, Mini Review, Original Research, Perspective and Reviews.