Abstract
THE Pauli exclusion principle was formulated to explain the regularities of both the Periodic Table and atomic spectra1, and has a crucial role in our understanding of the structure and properties of atoms and nuclei. Despite its enormous success the absolute validity of this principle is still open to question and some recent theoretical analyses have suggested that small violations are possible. This has inspired several experimental tests of its validity. Here we consider the possibility of a β-decay process that would violate the Pauli exclusion principle and use existing data from an underground laboratory to place a severe limit on the decay probability, and on possible violations of the Pauli exclusion principle.
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Kekez, D., Ljubic̆ić, A. & Logan, B. An upper limit to violations of the Pauli exclusion principle. Nature 348, 224 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/348224a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/348224a0
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