Mirror-symmetry violation in bound nuclear ground states.

Conservation laws are deeply related to any symmetry present in a physical system1,2. Analogously to electrons in atoms exhibiting spin symmetries3, it is possible to consider neutrons and protons in the atomic nucleus as projections of a single fermion with an isobaric spin (isospin) of t = 1/2 (ref. 4). Every nuclear state is thus characterized by a total isobaric spin T and a projection Tz—two quantities that are largely conserved in nuclear reactions and decays5,6. A mirror symmetry emerges from this isobaric-spin formalism: nuclei with exchanged numbers of neutrons and protons, known as mirror nuclei, should have an identical set of states7, including their ground state, labelled by their total angular momentum J and parity π. Here we report evidence of mirror-symmetry violation in bound nuclear ground states within the mirror partners strontium-73 and bromine-73. We find that a J π = 5/2− spin assignment is needed to explain the proton-emission pattern observed from the T = 3/2 isobaric-analogue state in rubidium-73, which is identical to the ground state of strontium-73. Therefore the ground state of strontium-73 must differ from its J π = 1/2− mirror bromine-73. This observation offers insights into charge-symmetry-breaking forces acting in atomic nuclei. Observations of the decay of 73Sr, when compared to its mirror nucleus 73Br, indicate that the spin assignment of their ground states differ, demonstrating mirror-symmetry violation.