Rare $^{40}$K decay with implications for fundamental physics and geochronology

Abstract

Potassium-40 is a widespread, naturally occurring isotope whose radioactivity impacts subatomic rare-event searches, nuclear structure theory, and estimated geological ages. A predicted electron-capture decay directly to the ground state of argon-40 has never been observed. The KDK (potassium decay) collaboration reports strong evidence of this rare decay mode. A blinded analysis reveals a non-zero ratio of intensities of ground-state electron-captures ($I_{\text{EC}^0}$) over excited-state ones ($I_\text{EC*}$) of $ I_{\text{EC}^0} / I_\text{EC*} = 0.0095 \stackrel{\text{stat}}{\pm} 0.0022 \stackrel{\text{sys}}{\pm} 0.0010 $ (68% C.L.), with the null hypothesis rejected at 4$\sigma$. In terms of branching ratio, this signal yields $I_{\text{EC}^0} = 0.098\% \stackrel{\text{stat}}{\pm} 0.023\% \stackrel{\text{sys}}{\pm} 0.010\% $, roughly half of the commonly used prediction, with consequences for various fields [L. Hariasz et al., companion paper, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.108.014327].