Nuclear structure and double-beta decay
FUSTIPEN Colloquium
«Nuclear structure and double-beta decay»
by Jonathan Engel from the University of North Carolina
March 7, 2014 GANIL, Caen, France
Several expensive experiments seek to determine the neutrino mass scale by measuring the rate of neutrinoless double-beta decay. The rate indeed depends on the mass scale but also depends on a nuclear matrix element that must be calculated. Current calculations are uncertain by factors of two or three at least.
Professor Jonathan Engel wilI describe recent theoretical work on several fronts to reduce the uncertainty. Developments in effective field theory, in ab initio nuclear structure, and in nuclear density-functional theory promise significantly more accurate matrix elements in the near future.
Piet Van Isacker (GANIL)
Marek Ploszajczak (GANIL)