0000000000135492
AUTHOR
Francesco Cappuzzello
The NUMEN project @ LNS: Status and perspectives
The NUMEN project aims at accessing experimentally driven information on Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME) involved in the half-life of the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ), by high-accuracy measurements of Heavy Ion (HI) induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reaction cross sections. In particular, the (18O,18Ne) and (20Ne,20O) reactions are used as tools for β+β+ and β−β− decays, respectively. In the experiments, performed at INFN - Laboratory Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania, the beams are accelerated by the Superconducting Cyclotron (CS) and the reaction ejectiles are detected the MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer. The measured cross sections are challengingly low (a few nb), being the tota…
Recent results on heavy-ion induced reactions of interest for neutrinoless double beta decay at INFN-LNS
Abstract The NUMEN project aims at accessing experimentally driven information on Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME) involved in the half-life of the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ). In this view measurements of Heavy Ion (HI) induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reaction cross sections are performed with high-accuracy. In particular, the (18O,18Ne) and (20Ne,20O) reactions are used as tools for β+β+ and β-β- decays, respectively. In the experiments, performed at INFN - Laboratory Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania, the beams are accelerated by the Superconducting Cyclotron (CS) and the reaction ejectiles are detected the MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer. The measured cross sections are challe…
Exploring the 10Li structure by the d(9Li,p)10Li transfer reaction
The 9Li + 2H reaction has been investigated at 11 AMeV incident energy at the ISAC II facility (TRIUMF). In the present paper we focus on the one-neutron transfer channel, which potentially holds spectroscopic information on the unbound nucleus 10Li. The TUDA setup has been used in order to detect and identify the outgoing 9Li at forward angles and the recoil protons at backward angles. This setup allows to study the 10Li emitted in the crucial region at forward angles in the center of mass.
The d(9Li,p)10Li reaction as a tool to explore the 10Li structure
The ground and low-lying states of the unbound nucleus 10Li were populated by the 9Li + 2H → 10Li + 1H reaction at 11 AMeV incident energy at the ISAC II facility (TRIUMF). In the experimental setup, the outgoing 9Li at forward angles and the recoil protons at backward angles were detected and identified. This setup allows to study the 10Li emitted in the crucial region at forward angles in the centre of mass.
Recent results on heavy-ion direct reactions of interest for 0νββ decay at INFN - LNS
Abstract Neutrinoless double beta decay of nuclei, if observed, would have important implications on fundamental physics. In particular it would give access to the effective neutrino mass. In order to extract such information from 0νββ decay half-life measurements, the knowledge of the Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME) is of utmost importance. In this context the NUMEN and the NURE projects aim to extract information on the NME by measuring cross sections of Double Charge Exchange reactions in selected systems which are expected to spontaneously decay via 0νββ. In this work an overview of the experimental challenges that NUMEN is facing in order to perform the experiments with accelerated beams…
New Results from the NUMEN Project
International audience; NUMEN aims at accessing experimentally driven information on Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME) involved in the half-life of the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ), by high-accuracy measurements of the cross sections of Heavy Ion (HI) induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions. First evidence about the possibility to get quantitative information about NME from experiments is found for the (^18O,^18Ne) and (^20Ne,^20O) reactions. Moreover, to infer the neutrino average masses from the possible measurement of the half-life of 0νββ decay, the knowledge of the NME is a crucial aspect. The key tools for this project are the high resolution Superconducting Cyclotron beam…
The NUMEN project @ LNS : Status and perspectives
The aim of the NUMEN project is to access the Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME), involved in the half life of the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ), by measuring the cross sections of Heavy Ions (HI) induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions with high accuracy. First evidence of the possibility to get quantitative information about NME from experiments is shown in the reaction 40Ca(18O,18Ne)40Ar at 270 MeV, performed with MAGNEX spectrometer using Superconducting Cyclotron (CS) beams at INFN - Laboratory Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania. Preliminary tests on 116Sn and 116Cd target are already performed. High beam intensity is the new frontiers for these studies. peerReviewed
10Li low-lying resonances populated by one-neutron transfer
The 9Li + 2H → 10Li + 1H one-neutron transfer reaction has been performed at 100 MeV incident energy at TRIUMF using a 9Li beam delivered by the ISAC-II facility. A setup based on double-sided silicon strip detectors has been used in order to detect and identify the outgoing 9Li produced by the 10Li breakup at forward angles and the recoil protons emitted at backward angles. The 10Li low-lying resonances, whose energies, widths and configurations are still unclear, have been populated with significant statistics.
Recent results on Heavy-Ion induced reactions of interest for 0νββ decay
An updated overview of recent results on Heavy-Ion induced reactions of interest for neutrinoless double beta decay is reported in the framework of the NUMEN project. The NUMEN idea is to study heavy-ion induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions with the aim to get information on the nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay. Moreover, to infer the neutrino average masses from the possible measurement of the half- life of 0νββ decay, the knowledge of the nuclear matrix elements is a crucial aspect. Uma visão geral atualizada dos resultados recentes sobre reações induzidas por íons pesados de interesse para o decaimento beta duplo sem neutrinos é relatada na es…
Measuring nuclear reaction cross sections to extract information on neutrinoless double beta decay
Neutrinoless double beta decay (0v\b{eta}\b{eta}) is considered the best potential resource to access the absolute neutrino mass scale. Moreover, if observed, it will signal that neutrinos are their own anti-particles (Majorana particles). Presently, this physics case is one of the most important research "beyond Standard Model" and might guide the way towards a Grand Unified Theory of fundamental interactions. Since the 0v\b{eta}\b{eta} decay process involves nuclei, its analysis necessarily implies nuclear structure issues. In the NURE project, supported by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), nuclear reactions of double charge-exchange (DCE) are used as a tool to extr…
NURE: An ERC project to study nuclear reactions for neutrinoless double beta decay
Neutrinoless double beta decay (0{\nu}\b{eta}\b{eta}) is considered the best potential resource to determine the absolute neutrino mass scale. Moreover, if observed, it will signal that the total lepton number is not conserved and neutrinos are their own anti-particles. Presently, this physics case is one of the most important research beyond Standard Model and might guide the way towards a Grand Unified Theory of fundamental interactions. Since the \b{eta}\b{eta} decay process involves nuclei, its analysis necessarily implies nuclear structure issues. The 0{\nu}\b{eta}\b{eta} decay rate can be expressed as a product of independent factors: the phase-space factors, the nuclear matrix elemen…
FIRST experiment: Fragmentation of Ions Relevant for Space and Therapy
International audience; Nuclear fragmentation processes are relevant in different fields of basic research and applied physics and are of particular interest for tumor therapy and for space radiation protection applications. The FIRST (Fragmentation of Ions Relevant for Space and Therapy) experiment at SIS accelerator of GSI laboratory in Darmstadt, has been designed for the measurement of different ions fragmentation cross sections at different energies between 100 and 1000 MeV/nucleon. The experiment is performed by an international collaboration made of institutions from Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The experimental apparatus is partly based on an already existing setup made of the …