Interplay of particle, nuclear and atomic physics in rare weak decays

Journal Article · Wed Nov 24 04:00:00 EST 2010 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3527257· OSTI ID:21506896

Suhonen, Jouni ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, P.O. Box 35 (YFL), FI-40014 University of jyvaeskylae (Finland)

The neutrinoless double beta decays of atomic nuclei are considered at the present the most viable way to access the fundamental nature and absolute mass scale of the neutrino. Recently one sub-class of these decays, the neutrinoless double electron capture (0{nu}ECEC), has attracted a lot of attention due to its potential of detection. In particular, the resonant 0{nu}ECEC is of interest owing to the possible huge enhancement of the corresponding decay rate by a resonance condition. At present the mass differences of the involved atom pairs are being measured by the Penning trap technique for several potential resonant 0{nu}ECEC decays. By evaluating the associated nuclear matrix elements using nuclear-structure models one can access the half-lives of these decays and thus predict their detection potential in underground experiments in the future. The absolute mass scale of the neutrino can also be accessed through beta decays of small decay energy. In these cases the effects of atomic origin may introduce non-negligible, even dramatic effects for Q values in the regime of few hundreds of eV and below.

• OSTI ID: 21506896
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 1304; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ATOMIC PHYSICS
ATOMS
BETA DECAY
BETA-MINUS DECAY
BOSONS
CAPTURE
DECAY
DETECTION
DOUBLE BETA DECAY
ELECTRON CAPTURE
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY
ENERGY RANGE
EV RANGE
EV RANGE 100-1000
FERMIONS
HADRONS
HALF-LIFE
ISOSPIN
LEPTONS
LEVELS
MASS
MASS DIFFERENCE
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATRICES
MESONS
NEUTRINOS
NUCLEAR DECAY
NUCLEAR MATRIX
NUCLEAR STRUCTURE
NUCLEI
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
PARTICLES
PHYSICS
Q-VALUE
RESONANCE
TRAPS
UNDERGROUND