Measurement of the<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>β</mml:mi><mml:mi>β</mml:mi></mml:math>Decay Half-Life of<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mi>Te</mml:mi><mml:mprescripts/><mml:none/><mml:mn>130</mml:mn></mml:mmultiscripts></mml:math>with the NEMO-3 Detector

We report results from the NEMO-3 experiment based on an exposure of 1275 days with 661 g of (130)Te in the form of enriched and natural tellurium foils. The ββ decay rate of (130)Te is found to be greater than zero with a significance of 7.7 standard deviations and the half-life is measured to be T(½)(2ν) = [7.0 ± 0.9(stat) ± 1.1(syst)] × 10(20) yr. This represents the most precise measurement of this half-life yet published and the first real-time observation of this decay.