Nuclear Structure Relevant to Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay: 76Ge and 76Se

Abstract

The possibility of observing neutrinoless double beta decay offers the opportunity of determining the neutrino mass IF the nuclear matrix element were known. Theoretical calculations are uncertain and measurements of the occupations of valence orbits by nucleons active in the decay can be important. The occupation of valence neutron orbits in the ground states of 76Ge and 76Se were determined by precisely measuring cross sections for both neutron-adding and removing transfer reactions. Our results indicate that the Fermi surface is much more diffuse than in theoretical (QRPA) calculations. We find that the populations of at least three orbits change significantly between these two ground states while in the calculations the changes are confined primarily to one orbit.

4 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Erratum: Assessment of uncertainties in QRPA $0\nu \beta \beta$-decay nuclear matrix elements [Nucl. Phys. A 766, 107 (2006)]
• Pair correlations in nuclei involved in neutrinoless double beta decay: 76Ge and 76Se

Cited by in corpus (7)

• The 0nbb-decay nuclear matrix elements with self-consistent short-range correlations
• Nuclear Structure Relevant to Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay: the Valence Protons in 76Ge and 76Se
• The occupancies of individual orbits and the nuclear matrix element of the ${}^{76}$Ge neutrinoless $\beta \beta$ decay
• $0\nu \beta \beta$ nuclear matrix elements and the occupancy of individual orbits
• Quasiparticle random phase approximation uncertainties and their correlations in the analysis of neutrinoless double beta decay
• Sense and sensitivity of double beta decay experiments
• Single and low-lying states dominance in two-neutrino double-beta decay