Degeneracy at 1871 keV in Cd112 and implications for neutrinoless double electron capture

High-statistics β-decay measurements of Ag112 and In112 were performed to study the structure of the Cd112 nucleus. The precise energies of the doublet of levels at 1871 keV, for which the 0+ member has been suggested as a possible daughter state following neutrinoless double electron capture of Sn112, were determined to be 1871.137(72) keV (04+ level) and 1870.743(54) keV (42+ level). The nature of the 04+ level, required for the calculation of the nuclear matrix element that would be needed to extract a neutrino mass from neutrinoless double electron capture to this state, is suggested to be of intruder origin.