Practical Qβ analysis method based on the Fermi–Kurie plot for spectra measured with total absorption BGO detector

A practical method based on Fermi–Kurie plots was newly proposed in order to analyze β-decay energy (Qβ) measured with a total absorption BGO detector. The detector has large efficiencies; all β-rays and subsequent γ-rays can be absorbed simultaneously, and the endpoint energy of the spectrum shows the Qβ. In the spectrum, different β-rays having maximum endpoint energies and forbiddenness are superimposed. To apply this method to the measured spectra, in addition to a simplified decay scheme that has a one-component β-ray fed to a pseudo-level Eγ, a mixed transition of the allowed and the unique-type first-forbidden transitions with a ratio of α was newly taken into account. Using the theoretical β-ray spectra, we verified that the Qβ can be deduced without information about the decay scheme, and described the dependences of the derived Qβ on Eγ and α. We also checked the reliability of this method by analyzing the spectra of fission products of 91−94Rb, 139−143Cs, 142Ba and 142,144La, which had well-determined Qβ up to 11 MeV. Consequently, we proposed that this method was applicable for analyzing spectra with a systematic uncertainty of 60 keV, when the analyzing regions were limited to about 1 MeV below the Qβ. Then, this method was also applied for re-analysis of the Qβ of neutron-rich rare earth nuclei.