Gleaning the {\ss}{\ss} decay half-life of $^{\mathrm{96}}$Zr from billion year old zircons

The decay of $^{\mathrm{96}}$Zr is of notable interest as a $\beta \beta $ decay candidate. Wieser and DeLaeter determined its $\beta \beta $ decay half-life by measuring an isotopic anomaly of the $^{\mathrm{96}}$Mo daughter in ancient zircons, yielding a value of 0.94(32)x10$^{\mathrm{19}}$ a. More recently, the NEMO collaboration measured the half-life by a direct count rate measurement to be 2.4(3)x10$^{\mathrm{19\thinspace }}$a, twice as long as the geochemical measurement. We aim to study this discrepancy through a series of experiments combining nuclear physics and geochemical techniques. We are measuring the amount of daughter product of the $\beta \beta $ decay of $^{\mathrm{96}}$Zr$\to ^{\mathrm{96}}$Mo in ancient zircons with ages from 500 Ma to 2.5 Ga using modern chemical preparation techniques and instrumentation. The zirconium silicates, which have remained a closed system over their lifetimes, are especially suitable for this investigation due to their high zirconium content and the low natural molybdenum abundance. This makes it possible to detect the small amount of accumulated decay product. These measurements are being performed in conjunction with beta decay Q-value measurements at the University of Jyv\"{a}skyl\"{a} JYFLTRAP experiment, a high precision mass measurement penning trap for atomic and nuclear science. Combined, these measurements will help to resolve the discrepancy of the two independent measurements.