High sensitivity GEM experiment on double beta decay of 76-Ge

The GEM project is designed for the next generation 2 beta decay experiments with 76-Ge. One ton of ''naked'' HP Ge detectors (natural at the first GEM-I phase and enriched in 76-Ge to 86% at the second GEM-II stage) are operating in super-high purity liquid nitrogen contained in the Cu vacuum cryostat (sphere with diameter 5 m). The latest is placed in the water shield. Monte Carlo simulation evidently shows that sensitivity of the experiment (in terms of the T1/2 limit for neutrinoless 2 beta decay) is 10^27 yr with natural HP Ge crystals and 10^28 yr with enriched ones. These bounds corresponds to the restrictions on the neutrino mass less than 0.05 eV and 0.015 eV with natural and enriched detectors, respectively. Besides, the GEM-I set up could advance the current best limits on the existence of neutralinos - as dark matter candidates - by three order of magnitudes, and at the same time would be able to identify unambiguously the dark matter signal by detection of its seasonal modulation.Comment: LaTeX, 20 pages, 4 figure

Shell-model calculations of two-neutrino double-beta decay rates of 48^{48}Ca with GXPF1A interaction

The two-neutrino double beta decay matrix elements and half-lives of $^{48}$Ca, are calculated within a shell-model approach for transitions to the ground state and to the $2^+$ first excited state of $^{48}$Ti. We use the full $pf$ model space and the GXPF1A interaction, which was recently proposed to describe the spectroscopic properties of the nuclei in the nuclear mass region A=47-66. Our results are $T_{1/2}(0^{+}\to 0^{+})$ = $3.3\times 10^{19}$ $yr$ and $T_{1/2}(0^{+}\to 2^{+})$ = $8.5\times 10^{23}$ $yr$. The result for the decay to the $^{48}$Ti 0$^+$ ground state is in good agreement with experiment. The half-life for the decay to the 2$^+$ state is two orders of magnitude larger than obtained previously.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Double-beta decay matrix elements for 76Ge^{76}Ge

Double-beta decay matrix elements (ME) for $^{76}Ge$ are calculated with different quasi random phase approximation (QRPA)-based methods. First, the ME for the two-neutrino mode are computed using two choices for the single particle (s.p.) basis: i) $2-4\hbar\omega$ full shells and ii) $3-4\hbar\omega$ full shells. When calculated with the renormalized QRPA (RQRPA) and full-RQRPA their values are rather dependent on the size of the single particle basis used, while calculated with proton-neutron QRPA (pnQRPA) and second-QRPA approaches such a dependence was found to be small. The Ikeda sum rule was well fulfilled within pnQRPA for both choices of the s.p. basis and with a good approximation within second-QRPA, while the RQRPA and full-RQRPA methods give deviations up to 21%. Further, the ME for the neutrinoless mode are calculated with the pnQRPA, RQRPA and full-RQRPA methods. They all give close results for the calculation with the smaller basis (i), while for the larger basis (ii), the results differ significantly either from one method to another or within the same method. Finally, using the most recent experimental limit for the $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay half-life of $^{76}Ge$ a critical discussion on the upper limits for the neutrino mass parameter obtained with different theoretical approaches is given

Low Energy Neutrino Physics after SNO and KamLAND

In the recent years important discoveries in the field of low energy neutrino physics (E$_\nu$ in the $\approx$ MeV range) have been achieved. Results of the solar neutrino experiment SNO show clearly flavor transitions from $\nu_e$ to $\nu_{\mu,\tau}$. In addition, the long standing solar neutrino problem is basically solved. With KamLAND, an experiment measuring neutrinos emitted from nuclear reactors at large distances, evidence for neutrino oscillations has been found. The values for the oscillation parameters, amplitude and phase, have been restricted. In this paper the potential of future projects in low energy neutrino physics is discussed. This encompasses future solar and reactor experiments as well as the direct search for neutrino masses. Finally the potential of a large liquid scintillator detector in an underground laboratory for supernova neutrino detection, solar neutrino detection, and the search for proton decay $p \to K^+ \nu$ is discussed.Comment: Invited brief review, World Scientific Publishing Compan

Structure of Pairs in Heavy Weakly-Bound Nuclei

We study the structure of nucleon pairs within a simple model consisting of a square well in three dimensions and a delta-function residual interaction between two weakly-bound particles at the Fermi surface. We include the continuum by enclosing the entire system in a large spherical box. To a good approximation, the continuum can be replaced by a small set of optimally-determined resonance states, suggesting that in many nuclei far from stability it may be possible to incorporate continuum effects within traditional shell-model based approximations.Comment: REVTEX format, 9 pages, 2 figures, 2 table

Double Beta Decay, Majorana Neutrinos, and Neutrino Mass

The theoretical and experimental issues relevant to neutrinoless double-beta decay are reviewed. The impact that a direct observation of this exotic process would have on elementary particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics and cosmology is profound. Now that neutrinos are known to have mass and experiments are becoming more sensitive, even the non-observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay will be useful. If the process is actually observed, we will immediately learn much about the neutrino. The status and discovery potential of proposed experiments are reviewed in this context, with significant emphasis on proposals favored by recent panel reviews. The importance of and challenges in the calculation of nuclear matrix elements that govern the decay are considered in detail. The increasing sensitivity of experiments and improvements in nuclear theory make the future exciting for this field at the interface of nuclear and particle physics.Comment: invited submission to Reviews of Modern Physics, higher resolution figures available upon request from authors, Version 2 has fixed typos and some changes after referee report

Radiative corrections to neutrino mass matrix in the Standard Model and beyond

We study the effect of radiative corrections on the structure of neutrino mass matrix. We analyze the renormalization of the matrix from the electroweak scale $m_Z$ to the scale $m_0$ at which the effective operator that gives masses to neutrinos is generated. Apart from Standard Model and MSSM, non-standard extensions of SM are considered at a scale $m_X$ intermediate between $m_Z$ and $m_0$. We find that the dominant structure of the neutrino mass matrix does not change. SM and MSSM corrections produce small (few percents) independent renormalization of each matrix element. Non-standard (flavor changing) corrections can modify strongly small (sub-dominant) matrix elements, which are important for the low energy phenomenology. In particular, we show that all sub-dominant elements can have purely radiative origin, being zero at $m_0$. The set of non-zero elements at $m_0$ can be formed by (i) diagonal elements (unit matrix); (ii) $M_{ee}$ and $M_{\mu\tau}$; (iii)$M_{ee}$ and $\mu\tau$-block elements; (iv) $\mu\tau$-block elements. In the case of unit matrix, both atmospheric and solar mixing angles and mass squared differences are generated radiatively.Comment: 22 pages, 5 eps figures, JHEP3.cls, some clarifications and one reference adde