Double Beta Decay, Nuclear Structure and Physics beyond the Standard Model

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) is presently the only known experiment to distinguisch between Dirac neutrinos, different from their antiparticles, and Majorana neutrinos, identical with their antiparticles. In addition $0\nu\beta\beta$ allows to determine the absolute scale of the neutrino masses. This is not possible with neutrino oscillations. To determine the neutrino masses one must assume, that the light Majorana neutrino exchange is the leading mechanism for $0\nu\beta\beta$ and that the matrix element of this transition can ba calculated reliably. The experimental $0\nu\beta\beta$ transition amplitude in this mechanism is a product of the light left handed effective Majorana neutrino mass and of this transition matrix element. The different methods, Quasi-particle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA), Shell Model (SM), Projected Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (PHFB) and Interacting Boson Model (IBM2) used in the literature and the reliability of the matrix elements in these approaches are reviewed. In the second part it is investigated how one can determine the leading mechanism or mechanisms from the data of the $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay in different nuclei. Explicite expressions are given for the transition matrix elements. is shown, that possible interference terms allow to test CP (Charge and Parity conjugation) violation.Comment: Contribution to the EPS conference in Eilath: "Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics 5." April 3rd to 8th. 201

K^+ production in p-C-collisions at a beam energy 1.2 GeV

The isobar model and the resonance model are applied for the first analysis of the subthreshold $K^+$-meson production in proton-carbon collisions, which was perfomed at GSI at an emission angle of 40 degrees and a bombarding energy of 1.2 GeV. In this study, we focus on the role of the secondary processes $\pi N \to K^+ Y$ in normal nuclear matter density. It turns out that the present approach can reproduce very well both the $\pi^+$- and $K^+$- meson spectra. It is also demonstrated that the different kinds of descriptions for the $\pi N \to K^+ \Lambda$ reactions substantially differentiate the calculated results for the $p A \to K^+ X$ differential cross sections.Comment: Latex 6 pages with 4 figures (eps file

Delta excitation in antiproton-deutron annihilation

The $\Delta$-excitation in $\overline{p}d$ annihilation at rest was studied. The annihilation amplitude from the statistical model and the $\pi N$ amplitude from the resonance model were adopted in our calculations. We analyze the invariant mass of the $\pi^+p$ and $\pi^-p$ systems selecting the protons with momenta above 400 MeV/c and with respect to the different final reaction channels. Our model reproduces reasonably the experimental data.Comment: 13 pages including 7 figures. Latex file. The uuencoded ps files for the figures are added. To be published in Z. Phys.