Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay and Realistic Shell Model

We report on the calculation of the neutrinoless double-beta decay nuclear matrix element for 76Ge within the framework of the realistic shell model. The effective shell-model Hamiltonian and the two-body transition operator describing the decay are derived by way of many-body perturbation theory. Particular attention is focused on the role played by the so-called Pauli blocking effect in the derivation of the effective operator.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the IV International Conference on Nuclear Structure and Dynamics NSD2019 (Venice, Italy, 13-17 May 2019) To be published in a volume of EPJ Web of Conference

Probing core polarization around 78Ni: intermediate energy Coulomb excitation of 74Ni

The study of the evolution of nuclear shells far from stability provides fundamental information about the shape and symmetry of the nuclear mean field. Nuclei with large neutron/proton ratio allow to probe the density dependence of the effective interaction. Indeed, it was recently shown that tensor and three-body forces play an important role in breaking and creating magic numbers. Of particular interest is the region of 78Ni where the large neutron excess coincides with a double shell closure. We have recently measured the B(E2; 0+ → 2+) of the 74Ni nucleus in an intermediate-energy Coulomb excitation experiment performed at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory of the Michigan State University. The 74Ni secondary beam has been produced by fragmentation of 86Kr at 140 AMeV on a thick Be target. Selected radioactive fragments impinged on a secondary 197Au target where the measurement of the emitted γ-rays allows to extract the Coulomb excitation cross section and related structure information. Preliminary B(E2) values do not point towards an enhancement of the transition matrix element and the comparison to what was already measured by Aoi and co-workers in [1] opens new scenarios in the interpretation of the shell evolution of the Z=28 isotopes