EMPIRICAL SURVEY OF NEUTRINOLESS DOUBLE BETA DECAY MATRIX ELEMENTS

• Published in: Modern physics letters A Vol. 28; no. 8; p. 1350021
• Main Author: ROBERTSON, R. G. H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore World Scientific Publishing Company 14.03.2013; World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte., Ltd
• Subjects: Beta decay; Decay rate; Leptons; Neutrinos; axial-vector coupling constant (gA); matrix element; neutrinoless double beta decay; Neutrino
• ISSN: 0217-7323; 1793-6632
• DOI: 10.1142/S0217732313500211

Neutrinoless double beta decay has been the subject of intensive theoretical work as it represents the only practical approach to discovering whether neutrinos are Majorana particles or not, and whether lepton number is a conserved quantum number. Available calculations of matrix elements and phase-space factors are reviewed from the perspective of a future large-scale experimental search for 0νββ decay. Somewhat unexpectedly, a uniform inverse correlation between phase-space and the square of the nuclear matrix element emerges. As a consequence, no isotope is either favored or disfavored; all have qualitatively the same decay rate per unit mass for any given value of the Majorana mass.