Precise measurement of the 7Be electron capture decay half-life in silicon carbide

In this work we present to our knowledge the most precise measurement of the 7Be electron capture decay half-life in a host material. A silicon carbide sample with ~8.62 × 1097Be atoms was measured for 83.5 d on an ultra-low background high purity Ge detector located deep underground in the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. The result obtained for the decay half-life is T1/2 = 53.284 ± 0.016 d, which corresponds to an uncertainty of 0.3‰. Thanks to the high sensitivity achieved, this measurement is paving the way to further investigations on this process aiming to understand how environmental conditions may affect the decay half-life.