Is it possible to study neutrinoless $\beta \beta$ decay by measuring double Gamow-Teller transitions?

Abstract

Searches of neutrinoless double-beta decay require information on the value of the nuclear matrix elements that rule the process to plan and interpret experiments. At present, however, even the matrix elements obtained with the most reliable many-body approaches do not agree to each other better than a factor two or three. A usual test of the many-body calculations is the comparison to several nuclear observables, but so far no nuclear structure property has been found to show a good correlation to neutrinoless double-beta decay. Here we propose that double charge-exchange experiments can offer a very valuable tool to provide insights on neutrinoless double-beta decay. Double charge-exchange reactions are being currently performed in various laboratories worldwide and aim to find the novel nuclear collectivity given by double Gamow-Teller excitations. Our results suggest a good linear correlation between double Gamow-Teller transitions to the ground state of the final nucleus and neutrinoless double-beta decay nuclear matrix elements. The correlation seems robust across $pf$-shell nuclei.

6 pages, 2 figures. Proceedings of the Conference on Neutrinos and Nuclear Physics (CNNP2017), Catania, 15-21 October, 2017

References in corpus (10)

• Anatomy of nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless double-beta decay
• The influence of pairing on the nuclear matrix elements of the neutrinoless double beta decays
• First Results from CUORE: A Search for Lepton Number Violation via $0\nu \beta \beta$ Decay of ${}^{130}$Te
• Average and recommended half-life values for two neutrino double beta decay
• Neutrinoless $\beta \beta$ decay mediated by the exchange of light and heavy neutrinos: The role of nuclear structure correlations
• Double Gamow-Teller transitions and its relation to neutrinoless $\beta \beta$ decay
• Neutrinoless double beta decay matrix elements in light nuclei
• Operator Evolution via the Similarity Renormalization Group I: The Deuteron
• Nuclear Structure Aspects of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay
• Double charge exchange (${}^{11}$B,${}^{11}$Li) reaction for double beta decay response

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Ab initio studies of double Gamow-Teller transition and its correlation with neutrinoless double beta decay
• Neutrinoless double-beta decay from an effective field theory for heavy nuclei
• Nuclear matrix elements of neutrinoless double-beta decay in covariant density functional theory with different mechanisms
• Neutrinoless $\beta \beta$-Decay in DCEQTDA