First energy and angle differential measurements of e+e−-pairs emitted by internal pair conversion of excited heavy nuclei

Abstract: We present the first energy and angle resolved measurements of e+e−-pairs emitted from heavy nuclei (Z≥ 40) at rest by internal pair conversion (IPC) of transitions with energies of less than 2 MeV as well as recent theoretical results using the DWBA method, which takes full account of relativistic effects, magnetic substates and finite size of the nucleus. The 1.76 MeV E0 transition in 90Zr (90Sr source) and the 1.77 MeV M1 transition in 207Pb (207Bi source) have been investigated experimentally using the essentially improved setup at the double-ORANGE β-spectrometer of GSI. The measurements prove the capability of the setup to cleanly identify the IPC pairs in the presence of five orders of magnitude higher β− and γ background from the same source and to yield essentially background-free sum spectra despite the large background. Using the ability of the ORANGE setup to directly determine the opening angle of the e+e−–pairs (Θe+e−), the angular correlation of the emitted pairs was measured within the range covered experimentally (40°≤Θe+e−≤ 180°). In the 90Zr case the correlation could be deduced for a wide range of energy differences EΔ of the pairs (−530 keV ≤EΔ≤ 530 keV). The 90Zr results are in good agreement with recent theory. The angular correlation deduced for the M1 transition in 207Pb is in strong disagreement with theoretical predictions derived within the Born approximation and shows almost isotropic character. This is again in agreement with the new theoretical results.