The nuclear matrix elements of 0vββ decay and the NUMEN project at INFN-LNS

F Cappuzzello ,A Khouaja,M Colonna ,Grazia D’agostino ,D Lo Presti,R Bijker ,R Introzzi ,R Linares ,J R B Oliveira ,S Tudisco,Andrea Lavagno ,L Acosta,L Calabretta ,R.i.m Vsevolodovna ,N Deshmukh ,A Calanna,V Greco ,S Boudhaim,D Calvo,Z Housni,D R Mendes,D Carbone ,H Lenske ,A Ferrero ,L Pandola ,D Bongiovanni,J Lubián ,M L Bouhssa ,Luciano Scaltrito ,F La Via ,Xenofon Aslanouglou ,P Finocchiaro ,E Santopinto ,P R S Gomes ,N H Medina ,D Bonanno ,T Borello,A Hacisalihoglu,C Agodi,O Sgouros,D Rifuggiato ,A Muoio ,S O Solakcı ,A Pakou,G Santagati,F Iazzi ,J A Lay ,G Lanzalone,M Cavallaro ,E.r Chávez Lomelí ,P N De Faria ,I Boztosun ,M R D Rodrigues ,N Auerbach ,V Soukeras,J Inchaou,A Foti,E Açıksöz ,V A B Zagatto

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/730/1/012006

Abstract

An innovative technique to access the nuclear matrix elements entering the expression of the life time of the double beta decay by relevant cross section measurements of double charge exchange reactions is proposed. A key aspect of the project is the use of the MAGNEX large acceptance magnetic spectrometer, for the detection of the ejectiles, and of the LNS K800 Superconducting Cyclotron (CS), for the acceleration of the required high resolution and low emittance heavy-ion beams, already in operation at INFN Laboratory Nazionali del Sud in Catania (Italy). However, a major upgrade is foreseen for the INFN-LNS research infrastructure to cope with beam currents as high as several ppA required by the project.

Highlights

Neutrinoless double beta decay, 0νββ, is at the present time strongly pursued both experimentally and theoretically [1]
The basic point is the coincidence of the initial and final state wave-functions in the two classes of processes and the similarity of the transition operators, which in both cases present a superposition of Fermi, Gamow-Teller and rank-two tensor components with a relevant momentum available
On the basis of the above mentioned ground-breaking achievement, we propose an ambitious project, NUMEN, with the aim to go deep insight in the Heavy Ion double charge exchange (DCE) studies on nuclei of interest for 0νββ decay [3]

Summary

Introduction

Neutrinoless double beta decay, 0νββ, is at the present time strongly pursued both experimentally and theoretically [1]. An innovative technique to access the Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME) entering the expression of the life time of the 0νββ by relevant cross sections of double charge exchange (DCE) reactions is proposed. First pioneering experimental results, obtained at the INFN-LNS laboratory in Catania, for the 40Ca(18O,18Ne)40Ar reaction at 270 MeV, in a wide range of transferred momenta, give encouraging indication on the capability to access quantitative information towards the determination of the NME for 0νββ decay [2]. A simple relation between DCE cross sections and ββ-decay half-lives is not trivial and needs to be explored

The Project

The NUMEN goals