Status and future of nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless double-beta decay: a review

Engel, J.; Menéndez, J. Fernández

doi:10.1088/1361-6633/aa5bc5

Cited by 548 publications

(565 citation statements)

References 332 publications

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“…Very recently also the beyond-mean-field covariant density functional theory [54] and the corresponding non-relativistic version [55] have been used to describe the 0νββ decays of nuclei. For more details see the reviews [25,56].…”

Section: Nuclear Model and The Two-stage Fitting Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of the quenching of gA on the sensitivity of 0νββ experiments

Suhonen

2017

Phys. Rev. C

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Detection of the neutrinoless ββ (0νββ) decay is of high priority in the particle-and neutrinophysics communities. The detectability of this decay mode is strongly influenced by the value of the weak axial-vector coupling constant gA. The recent nuclear-model analyses of β and ββ decays suggest that the value of gA could be dramatically quenched, reaching ratios of g free A /gA ≈ 4, where g free A = 1.27 is the free, neutron-decay, value of gA. The effects of this quenching appear devastating for the sensitivity of the present and future 0νββ experiments since the 4th power of this ratio scales the 0νββ half-lives. This, in turn, could lead to some two orders of magnitude less sensitivity for the 0νββ experiments. In the present article it is shown that by using a consistent approach to both the two-neutrino ββ and 0νββ decays by the proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation (pnQRPA), the feared two-orders-of-magnitude reduction in the sensitivity of the 0νββ experiments actually shrinks to a reduction by factors in the range 2 − 6. This certainly has dramatic consequences for the potential to detect the 0νββ decay.PACS numbers: 21.60.Jz, 23.40.Hc, 27.50.+e, 27.60.+j Keywords: Detectability of the neutrinoless double beta decay, nuclear matrix elements, quenching of the axial-vector coupling strength, sensitivity of the double-beta experiments

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Section: Nuclear Model and The Two-stage Fitting Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For this reason, more and more attention is being paid to the issue of computing the values of these NMEs in a proper way [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the quenching of gA on the sensitivity of 0νββ experiments

Suhonen

2017

Phys. Rev. C

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“…The neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decay of atomic nuclei is a promising way to access the physics beyond the standard model [1][2][3][4][5], as witnessed by the ever growing experimental interest in this decay mode. At the same time half-lives of the two-neutrino ββ (2νββ) decays of several nuclei have been measured with increased precision [6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Very recently also the beyond-mean-field covariant density functional theory [18,19] and advanced shell-model frameworks [20][21][22][23] have been used to describe the 0νββ NMEs of nuclei. For more details see the reviews [5,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutrinoless ββ nuclear matrix elements using isovector spin-dipole Jπ=2− data

et al. 2018

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Ground-state-to-ground-state neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decays in nuclei of current experimental interest are revisited. In order to improve the reliability of the nuclear matrix element (NME) calculations for the light Majorana-neutrino mode, the NMEs are calculated by exploiting the newly available data on isovector spindipole (IVSD) J π = 2 − giant resonances. In order to correctly describe the IVSD up to and beyond the giantresonance region, the present computations are performed in extended no-core single-particle model spaces using the spherical version of the proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation (pnQRPA) with twonucleon interactions based on the Bonn one-boson-exchange G matrix. The appropriate short-range correlations, nucleon form factors, higher-order nucleonic weak currents, and partial restoration of the isospin symmetry are included in the calculations. The results are compared with earlier calculations of Hyvärinen and Suhonen [Phys. Rev. C 91, 024613 (2015)] performed in much smaller single-particle bases without access to the IVSD J π = 2 − giant-resonance data reported here.

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“…At present, both the robust prediction of the efficacy of different detector materials, necessary for optimal design sensitivity, and the robust interpretation of the highly sought-after neutrinoless ββ-decay (0νββ) mode are impeded by the lack of knowledge of second-order weak-interaction nuclear matrix elements. These quantities bear uncertainties from nuclear modeling that are both significant and difficult to quantify [5]. Controlling the nuclear uncertainties in ββ-decay matrix elements by connecting the nuclear many-body methods to the underlying parameters of the SM is a critical task for nuclear theory.…”

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confidence: 99%

Isotensor Axial Polarizability and Lattice QCD Input for Nuclear Double- β Decay Phenomenology

et al. 2017

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The potential importance of short-distance nuclear effects in double-β decay is assessed using a lattice QCD calculation of the nn → pp transition and effective field theory methods. At the unphysical quark masses used in the numerical computation, these effects, encoded in the isotensor axial polarizability, are found to be of similar magnitude to the nuclear modification of the single axial current, which phenomenologically is the quenching of the axial charge used in nuclear many-body calculations. This finding suggests that nuclear models for neutrinoful and neutrinoless double-β decays should incorporate this previously neglected contribution if they are to provide reliable guidance for next-generation neutrinoless double-β decay searches. The prospects of constraining the isotensor axial polarizabilities of nuclei using lattice QCD input into nuclear many-body calculations are discussed. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.062003 Double-β (ββ) decays of nuclei are of significant phenomenological interest; they probe fundamental symmetries of nature and admit both tests of the standard model (SM) and investigations of physics beyond it [1]. Consequently, these decays are the subject of intense experimental study, and next-generation ββ-decay experiments are currently being planned [2][3][4]. At present, both the robust prediction of the efficacy of different detector materials, necessary for optimal design sensitivity, and the robust interpretation of the highly sought-after neutrinoless ββ-decay (0νββ) mode are impeded by the lack of knowledge of second-order weak-interaction nuclear matrix elements. These quantities bear uncertainties from nuclear modeling that are both significant and difficult to quantify [5]. Controlling the nuclear uncertainties in ββ-decay matrix elements by connecting the nuclear many-body methods to the underlying parameters of the SM is a critical task for nuclear theory.In this Letter, lattice QCD and pionless effective field theory [EFTðπ Þ)] are used to investigate the strong-interaction uncertainties in the second-order weak transition of the two-nucleon system in the SM by determining the threshold transition matrix element for nn → pp. This matrix element receives long-distance contributions from the deuteron intermediate state whose size is governed by the squared magnitude of the hppjJ þ μ jdi matrix element of the axial current that has been recently calculated using lattice quantum chromodynamics (LQCD) [6]. In that work, the two-body contribution to the matrix element (i.e., that beyond the coupling of the axial current to a single nucleon) was constrained, quantifying the effective modification (quenching) of the axial charge of the nucleon from two-body effects. Here, it is highlighted that the nn → pp matrix element receives additional short-distance contributions beyond those in jhppjJ þ μ jdij 2 arising from the two axial currents being separated by r < Λ −1 ∼ m −1 π [where Λ is the cutoff scale of EFTðπ Þ], referred to herein as the isotensor axial polarizability. Usi...

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Status and future of nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless double-beta decay: a review

Cited by 548 publications

References 332 publications

Impact of the quenching of gA on the sensitivity of 0νββ experiments

Impact of the quenching of gA on the sensitivity of 0νββ experiments

Neutrinoless ββ nuclear matrix elements using isovector spin-dipole Jπ=2− data

Isotensor Axial Polarizability and Lattice QCD Input for Nuclear Double- β Decay Phenomenology

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