Present Status of Nuclear Shell-Model Calculations of 0νββ Decay Matrix Elements

Coraggio, Luigi; Itaco, Nunzio; De Gregorio, Giovanni; Gargano, Angela; Mancino, Riccardo; Pastore, Saori

doi:10.3390/universe6120233

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Present Status of Nuclear Shell-Model Calculations of 0νββ Decay Matrix Elements

by

Luigi Coraggio

^1,2,*

,

Nunzio Itaco

^1,2

,

Giovanni De Gregorio

^1,2

,

Angela Gargano

²

,

Riccardo Mancino

^1,2 and

Saori Pastore

³

¹

Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Viale Abramo Lincoln 5, I-81100 Caserta, Italy

²

Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo, Via Cintia, I-80126 Napoli, Italy

³

Physics Department and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Universe 2020, 6(12), 233; https://doi.org/10.3390/universe6120233

Submission received: 15 November 2020 / Revised: 29 November 2020 / Accepted: 30 November 2020 / Published: 7 December 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay)

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Abstract

Neutrinoless double beta (

0 ν β β

) decay searches are currently among the major foci of experimental physics. The observation of such a decay will have important implications in our understanding of the intrinsic nature of neutrinos and shed light on the limitations of the Standard Model. The rate of this process depends on both the unknown neutrino effective mass and the nuclear matrix element (

M^{0 ν}

) associated with the given

0 ν β β

transition. The latter can only be provided by theoretical calculations, hence the need of accurate theoretical predictions of

M^{0 ν}

for the success of the experimental programs. This need drives the theoretical nuclear physics community to provide the most reliable calculations of

M^{0 ν}

. Among the various computational models adopted to solve the many-body nuclear problem, the shell model is widely considered as the basic framework of the microscopic description of the nucleus. Here, we review the most recent and advanced shell-model calculations of

M^{0 ν}

considering the light-neutrino-exchange channel for nuclei of experimental interest. We report the sensitivity of the theoretical calculations with respect to variations in the model spaces and the shell-model nuclear Hamiltonians.

Keywords: nuclear shell model; effective interactions; nuclear forces; neutrinoless double-beta decay

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MDPI and ACS Style

Coraggio, L.; Itaco, N.; De Gregorio, G.; Gargano, A.; Mancino, R.; Pastore, S. Present Status of Nuclear Shell-Model Calculations of 0νββ Decay Matrix Elements. Universe 2020, 6, 233. https://doi.org/10.3390/universe6120233

AMA Style

Coraggio L, Itaco N, De Gregorio G, Gargano A, Mancino R, Pastore S. Present Status of Nuclear Shell-Model Calculations of 0νββ Decay Matrix Elements. Universe. 2020; 6(12):233. https://doi.org/10.3390/universe6120233

Chicago/Turabian Style

Coraggio, Luigi, Nunzio Itaco, Giovanni De Gregorio, Angela Gargano, Riccardo Mancino, and Saori Pastore. 2020. "Present Status of Nuclear Shell-Model Calculations of 0νββ Decay Matrix Elements" Universe 6, no. 12: 233. https://doi.org/10.3390/universe6120233

APA Style

Coraggio, L., Itaco, N., De Gregorio, G., Gargano, A., Mancino, R., & Pastore, S. (2020). Present Status of Nuclear Shell-Model Calculations of 0νββ Decay Matrix Elements. Universe, 6(12), 233. https://doi.org/10.3390/universe6120233

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Present Status of Nuclear Shell-Model Calculations of 0νββ Decay Matrix Elements

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