Javier Revuelta Menéndez

Disassembling the nuclear matrix elements of the neutrinoless ββ decay

Abstract In this article we analyze the nuclear matrix elements (NME) of the neutrinoless double beta decays ( 0 ν β β ) of the nuclei 48 Ca, 76 Ge, 82 Se, 124 Sn, 128 Te, 130 Te and 136 Xe in the framework of the interacting shell model (ISM). We study the relative value of the different contributions to the NMEs, such as higher order terms in the nuclear current, finite nuclear size effects and short range correlations, as well as their evolution with the maximum seniority permitted in the wave functions. We discuss also the build-up of the NMEs as a function of the distance between the decaying neutrons. We calculate the decays to 0 1 + final states and find that these decays are at least 25 times more suppressed with respect to the ground state to ground state transition.

Influence of pairing on the nuclear matrix elements of the neutrinoless betabeta decays.

We study in this Letter the neutrinoless double beta decay nuclear matrix elements (NMEs) in the framework of the interacting shell model. We analyze them in terms of the total angular momentum of the decaying neutron pair and as a function of the seniority truncations in the nuclear wave functions. This point of view turns out to be very adequate to gauge the accuracy of the NMEs predicted by different nuclear models. In addition, it gives back the protagonist role in this process to the pairing interaction, the one which is responsible for the very existence of double beta decay emitters. We show that low seniority approximations, comparable to those implicit in the quasiparticle RPA in a spherical basis, tend to overestimate the NMEs in several decays.

Occupancies of individual orbits, and the nuclear matrix element of the {sup 76}Ge neutrinoless {beta}{beta} decay

We discuss the variation of the nuclear matrix element (NME) for the neutrinoless double beta (0{nu}{beta}{beta}) decay of {sup 76}Ge when the wave functions are constrained to reproduce the experimental occupancies of the two nuclei involved in the transition. In the interacting shell model description the value of the NME is enhanced about 15% compared to previous calculations, whereas in the QRPA the NMEs are reduced by 20%-30%. This diminishes the discrepancies between both approaches. In addition, we discuss the effect of the short-range correlations on the NME in light of the recently proposed parametrizations based on a consistent renormalization of the 0{nu}{beta}{beta} transition operator.