In nuclear transitions governed by strong and electromagnetic interactions (which are invariant under parity), the physical laws would be the same if the interaction was reflected in a mirror. Hence the sum of a vector and a pseudovector is not meaningful.  However, the weak force, which governs beta decay and the corresponding nuclear transitions, does depend on the chirality of the interaction, and in this case pseudovectors and vectors are added.
The Gamow–Teller transition is a pseudovector transition, that is, the selection rules for beta decay caused by such a transition involve no parity change of the nuclear state. The spin of the parent nucleus can either remain unchanged or change by ±1. However, unlike the Fermi transition, transitions from spin 0 to spin 0 are excluded.
In terms of total nuclear angular momentum, the Gamow–Teller transition () is
:;Examples
::   also  parity is conserved:   the final Li 1 state has  and the  state has  states that couple to an even parity state.