Effect of synchrotron radiation on nuclear beta decay

The stimulation of the endothermic beta decay of stable nuclei by the field of synchrotron radiation has been analyzed theoretically in the framework of the photobeta decay mechanism. In contrast to works devoted to the effect of laser fields on beta decay, the action of the field directly on a nucleus rather than on a beta electron is considered (a sufficiently intense flux of hard photons whose energies exceed 60 keV allows this action). The rates of such a beta decay are calculated for a number of “parent nucleus-daughter nucleus” pairs for the relativistic case including Coulomb effects. For the most intense available sources of synchrotron radiation, the rate of stimulated beta decay for most nuclei under investigation appears to be characteristic of third-forbidden β^? transitions. The effect of synchrotron radiation on highly forbidden natural nuclear β^? decays is also analyzed. In particular, irradiation increases the rate of the β^? decay of the ₃₇ ⁸⁷ Rb and ₄₉ ¹¹⁵ In nuclei by 2% and by almost two orders of magnitude, respectively.