QEC values of the superallowed beta emitters 50Mn and 54Co.

Using a new fast cleaning procedure to prepare isomerically pure ion samples, we have measured the beta-decay Q(EC) values of the superallowed beta emitters 5(0)Mn and (54)Co to be 7634.48(7) and 8244.54(10) keV, respectively, results which differ significantly from the previously accepted values. The corrected Ft values derived from our results strongly support new isospin-symmetry-breaking corrections that lead to a higher value of the up-down quark mixing element V(ud) and improved confirmation of the unitarity of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix.