Investigation of pair-correlated $0^{+}$ states in ${}^{134}$Ba via the ${}^{136}$Ba($p,t$) reaction

Abstract

We performed a high resolution study of $0^{+}$ states in ${}^{134}$Ba using the ${}^{136}$Ba($p,t$) two-neutron transfer reaction. Our experiment shows a significant portion of the $L=0$ pair-transfer strength concentrated at excited $0^{+}$ levels in ${}^{134}$Ba. Potential implications in the context of ${}^{136}$Xe $\to$ ${}^{136}$Ba neutrinoless double beta decay matrix element calculations are briefly discussed.