532 research outputs found
A New Class of Majoron-Emitting Double-Beta Decays
Motivated by the excess events that have recently been found near the
endpoints of the double beta decay spectra of several elements, we re-examine
models in which double beta decay can proceed through the neutrinoless emission
of massless Nambu-Goldstone bosons (majorons). Noting that models proposed to
date for this process must fine-tune either a scalar mass or a VEV to be less
than 10 keV, we introduce a new kind of majoron which avoids this difficulty by
carrying lepton number . We analyze in detail the requirements that
models of both the conventional and our new type must satisfy if they are to
account for the observed excess events. We find: (1) the electron sum-energy
spectrum can be used to distinguish the two classes of models from one another;
(2) the decay rate for the new models depends on different nuclear matrix
elements than for ordinary majorons; and (3) all models require a (pseudo)
Dirac neutrino, having a mass of a several hundred MeV, which mixes with
.Comment: 43 pages, 10 figures (included), [figure captions are now included
Limits on the Majorana neutrino mass in the 0.1 eV range
The Heidelberg-Moscow experiment gives the most stringent limit on the
Majorana neutrino mass. After 24 kg yr of data with pulse shape measurements,
we set a lower limit on the half-life of the neutrinoless double beta decay in
76Ge of T_1/2 > 5.7 * 10^{25} yr at 90% C.L., thus excluding an effective
Majorana neutrino mass greater than 0.2 eV. This allows to set strong
constraints on degenerate neutrino mass models.Comment: 6 pages (latex) including 3 postscript figures and 2 table
Natural Neutrino Mass Matrix
Naturalness of the neutrino mass hierarchy and mixing is studied. First we
select among 12 neutrino mixing patterns a few patterns, which could form the
natural neutrino mass matrix. Further we show that if the Dirac neutrino mass
matrix is taken as the natural one in the quark sector, then only two mixing
patterns without the large mixing lead to the natural right-handed Majorana
mass matrix. The rest of the chosen patterns with three degenerate mass
solution lead to the unnatural right-handed Majorana mass matrix in the see-saw
mechanism. Notice however, that for the chosen two natural patterns there could
be a huge mass hierarchy such as in order to reproduce
the inverse mass hierarchy of the light neutrinos.Comment: 31 pages, LaTex file, no figures, arguments made more clear, main
conclusions unchanged, version accepted for publication in PRD Reort-no:
Lund-Mph-97/14 Revise
Additional Nucleon Current Contributions to Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay
We have examined the importance of momentum dependent induced nucleon
currents such as weak-magnetism and pseudoscalar couplings to the amplitude of
neutrinoless double beta decay in the mechanisms of light and heavy Majorana
neutrino as well as in that of Majoron emission. Such effects are expected to
occur in all nuclear models in the direction of reducing the light neutrino
matrix elements by about 30%. To test this we have performed a calculation of
the nuclear matrix elements of the experimentally interesting nuclei A = 76,
82, 96, 100, 116, 128, 130, 136 and 150 within the pn-RQRPA. We have found that
indeed such corrections vary somewhat from nucleus to nucleus, but in all cases
they are greater than 25 percent. In the case of heavy neutrino the effect is
much larger (a factor of 3). Combining out results with the best presently
available experimental limits on the half-life of the neutrinoless double beta
decay we have extracted new limits on the effective neutrino mass (light and
heavy) and the effective Majoron coupling constant.Comment: 31 pages, RevTex, 3 Postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Neutrinoless double-beta decay with three or four neutrino mixing
Considering the scheme with mixing of three neutrinos and a mass hierarchy
that can accommodate the results of solar and atmospheric neutrino experiments,
it is shown that the results of solar neutrino experiments imply a lower bound
for the effective Majorana mass in neutrinoless double-beta decay, under the
natural assumptions that massive neutrinos are Majorana particles and there are
no unlikely fine-tuned cancellations among the contributions of the different
neutrino masses. Considering the four-neutrino schemes that can accommodate
also the results of the LSND experiment, it is shown that only one of them is
compatible with the results of neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments and
with the measurement of the abundances of primordial elements produced in
Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis. It is shown that in this scheme, under the
assumptions that massive neutrinos are Majorana particles and there are no
cancellations among the contributions of the different neutrino masses, the
results of the LSND experiment imply a lower bound for the effective Majorana
mass in neutrinoless double-beta decay.Comment: 18 pages including 2 figures, RevTe
Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay in Gauge Theories
Neutrinoless double beta decay is a very important process both from the
particle and nuclear physics point of view. Its observation will severely
constrain the existing models and signal that the neutrinos are massive
Majorana particles. From the elementary particle point of view it pops up in
almost every model. In addition to the traditional mechanisms, like the
neutrino mass, the admixture of right handed currents etc, it may occur due to
the R-parity violating supersymmetric (SUSY) interactions. From the nuclear
physics point of view it is challenging, because: 1) The relevant nuclei have
complicated nuclear structure. 2) The energetically allowed transitions are
exhaust a small part of all the strength. 3) One must cope with the short
distance behavior of the transition operators, especially when the intermediate
particles are heavy (eg in SUSY models). Thus novel effects, like the double
beta decay of pions in flight between nucleons, have to be considered. 4) The
intermediate momenta involved are about 100 MeV. Thus one has to take into
account possible momentum dependent terms in the nucleon current. We find that,
for the mass mechanism, such modifications of the nucleon current for light
neutrinos reduce the nuclear matrix elements by about 25 per cent, almost
regardless of the nuclear model. In the case of heavy neutrinos the effect is
much larger and model dependent.
Taking the above effects into account, the available nuclear matrix elements
for the experimentally interesting nuclei A = 76, 82, 96, 100, 116, 128, 130,
136 and 150 and the experimental limits on the life times we have extracted new
stringent limits on the average neutrino mass and on the R-parity violating
coupling for various SUSY models.Comment: Latex, 24 pages, 1 postscript figure, uses iopconf.st
A Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events: Cuore, an Update
CUORE is a proposed tightly packed array of 1000 TeO_{2} bolometers, each
being a cube 5 cm on a side with a mass of 750 gms. The array consists of 25
vertical towers, arranged in a square, of 5 towers by 5 towers, each containing
10 layers of 4 crystals. The design of the detector is optimized for ultralow-
background searches for neutrinoless double beta decay of ^{130}Te (33.8%
abundance), cold dark matter, solar axions, and rare nuclear decays. A
preliminary experiment involving 20 crystals of various sizes (MIBETA) has been
completed, and a single CUORE tower is being constructed as a smaller scale
experiment called CUORICINO. The expected performance and sensitivity, based on
Monte Carlo simulations and extrapolations of present results, are reported.Comment: in press: Nucl. Phys. of Russian Academy of Sc
Probing New Physics Models of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay with SuperNEMO
The possibility to probe new physics scenarios of light Majorana neutrino
exchange and right-handed currents at the planned next generation neutrinoless
double beta decay experiment SuperNEMO is discussed. Its ability to study
different isotopes and track the outgoing electrons provides the means to
discriminate different underlying mechanisms for the neutrinoless double beta
decay by measuring the decay half-life and the electron angular and energy
distributions.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, to be published in E.P.J.
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