Electron-Neutrino Angular Correlation in the Beta Decay of Neon-19

Abstract

The distribution in kinetic energy of the recoil ions associated with beta rays of known energy in the beta decay of ${\mathrm{Ne}}^{19}$ has been measured. For the coefficient $\lambda$ in the theoretical distribution in the cosine of the angle between the outgoing electron and neutrino, [$1+\lambda \left(\frac{v}{c}\right)cos\theta$], we find a value of $\lambda =+0.14\mathrm{}\pm 0.13$, suggesting that the Fermi component of the beta decay interaction is scalar.