Positron-Emitting and Electron-Capturing Double-Beta Processes in the Standard Model and Beyond

Abstract

We study positron-emitting and electron-capturing double-beta-decay modes as probes complementary to the usual double beta decay. Motivated by the proposed NuDoubt++ experiment, we analyze the candidate isotopes ${}^{78}$Kr, ${}^{106}$Cd, and ${}^{124}$Xe, providing nuclear matrix elements and phase-space factors for both neutrinoful and neutrinoless modes. For the Standard-Model channels, we find that $2\hat{I}½$ECEC and $2νβ^+$EC are the most experimentally accessible, whereas $2νβ^+β^+$ remains strongly phase-space suppressed. For the neutrinoless channel, we interpret a projected sensitivity of $T_{1/2}^{0\hat{I}½}=10^{24}$ y in terms of dimension-seven SMEFT operators and find sensitivity to lepton-number-violating new-physics scales of order 1-100 TeV. We further show that measurements in multiple isotopes can help to resolve degeneracies in multi-operator scenarios, making positron-emitting double-beta searches a useful complement to conventional neutrinoless double beta decay experiments.

27 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables