Ca-48, the lightest experimentally accessible double beta decay candid
ate, is the only one simple enough to be treated exacly in the nuclear
shell model. Thus the beta beta(2v) half-life measurement, reported h
ere, provides a unique test of the nuclear physics involved in the bet
a beta matrix element calculation. Enriched Ca-48 sources of two diffe
rent thicknesses have been exposed in a time projection chamber. We ob
serve a half-life of T-1/2(2v)=(4.3(-1.1)(+2.4)[stat]+/-[syst])x10(19)
yr, consistent with shell model calculations.