Search results for "electroweak interactions in nuclear physics"
showing 9 items of 9 documents
Gamow-Teller response in the configuration space of a density-functional-theory–rooted no-core configuration-interaction model
2018
Background: The atomic nucleus is a unique laboratory in which to study fundamental aspects of the electroweak interaction. This includes a question concerning in medium renormalization of the axial-vector current, which still lacks satisfactory explanation. Study of spin-isospin or Gamow-Teller (GT) response may provide valuable information on both the quenching of the axial-vector coupling constant as well as on nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics.Purpose: We have performed a seminal calculation of the GT response by using the no-core configuration-interaction approach rooted in multireference density functional theory (DFT-NCCI). The model treats properly isospin and rotational sy…
First-forbidden transitions in the reactor anomaly
2018
We study the dominant forbidden transitions in the antineutrino spectra of the fission actinides from 4 MeV onward using the nuclear shell model. Through explicit calculation of the shape factor, taking into account Coulomb corrections, we show the expected changes on cumulative electron and antineutrino spectra. Compared to the usual allowed approximation this results in a minor decrease of electron spectra from 4 MeV and onward, whereas an increase of several percent is observed in antineutrino spectra. We show that, despite their limited number, forbidden transitions dominate the spectral flux for most of the experimentally accessible range. Based on the shell model calculations we attem…
Improved calculations of β decay backgrounds to new physics in liquid xenon detectors
2020
We present high-precision theoretical predictions for the electron energy spectra for the ground-state to ground-state β decays of 214Pb, 212Pb, and 85Kr most relevant to the background of liquid xenon dark matter detectors. The effects of nuclear structure on the spectral shapes are taken into account using large-scale shell-model calculations. Final spectra also include atomic screening and exchange effects. The impact of nuclear structure effects on the 214Pb and 212Pb spectra below ≈100 keV, pertinent for several searches for new physics, are found to be comparatively larger than those from the atomic effects alone. We find that the full calculation for 214Pb (212Pb) predicts 15.0%–23.2…
Short-range neutrinoless double beta decay mechanisms
2018
Neutrinoless double beta decay can significantly help to shed light on the issue of non-zero neutrino mass, as observation of this lepton number violating process would imply neutrinos are Majorana particles. However, the underlying interaction does not have to be as simple as the standard neutrino mass mechanism. The entire variety of neutrinoless double beta decay mechanisms can be approached effectively. In this work we focus on a theoretical description of short-range effective contributions to neutrinoless double beta decay, which are equivalent to 9-dimensional effective operators incorporating the appropriate field content. We give a detailed derivation of the nuclear matrix elements…
Effective axial-vector strength within proton-neutron deformed quasiparticle random-phase approximation
2019
We use the available experimental Gamow-Teller β− and β+/EC (electron-capture) decay rates between 0+ and 1+ ground states in neighboring even-even and odd-odd nuclei, combined with 2νββ half-lives, to analyze the influence of the nuclear environment on the weak axial-vector strength gA. For this purpose, the proton-neutron deformed quasiparticle random-phase approximation (pn-dQRPA), with schematic dipole residual interaction is employed. The Hamiltonian contains particle-hole (ph) and particle-particle (pp) channels with mass-dependent strengths. In deriving the equations of motion we use a self-consistent procedure in terms of a single-particle basis with projected angular momentum provi…
Calculated solar-neutrino capture rate for a radiochemical 205Tl-based solar-neutrino detector
2020
Radiochemical experiments for low-energy solar-neutrino detection have been making headlines by exploiting the isotopes 37Cl and 71Ga. Such a very low-threshold measurement of this type can also be performed using 205Tl, which has been considered for decades for this purpose. A unique feature of this detector nucleus is the integration in the solar-neutrino flux over 106 of years owing to its long-living daughter 205Pb. In this Rapid Communication, we have calculated for the first time the cross section for the charged-current solar-neutrino scattering off 205Tl. Taking into account the solar-model-predicted neutrino fluxes and the electron-neutrino survival probabilities, a solar-neutrino …
First-forbidden transitions in reactor antineutrino spectra
2019
© 2019 American Physical Society. We study the dominant forbidden transitions in the antineutrino spectra of the fission actinides from 4 MeV onward using the nuclear shell model. Through explicit calculation of the shape factor, we show the expected changes in cumulative electron and antineutrino spectra. Relative to the allowed approximation this results in a minor decrease of electron spectra above 4 MeV, whereas an increase of several percent is observed in antineutrino spectra. We show that forbidden transitions dominate the spectral flux for most of the experimentally accessible range. Based on the shell model calculations we attempt a parametrization of forbidden transitions and prop…
Muon-electron lepton-flavor-violating transitions : Shell-model calculations of transitions in 27Al
2018
In this paper we present the results of large-scale shell-model calculations of muon-to-electron lepton-flavorviolating transitions for the case of the target nucleus 27Al. We extend the previous shell-model calculations, done in the sd model space, by including also the p orbitals in order to see whether the negative-parity states produce any significant effect in the conversion rate. The analysis of the results shows the dominance of coherent transitions mediated by isovector operators and going by the ground state of the target, with practically null influence of excited positive- or negative-parity states. peerReviewed
Analysis of light neutrino exchange and short-range mechanisms in 0νββ decay
2020
Neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) is a crucial test for lepton number violation. Observation of this process would have fundamental implications for neutrino physics, theories beyond the Standard Model and cosmology. Focusing on so-called short-range operators of 0νββ and their potential interplay with the standard light Majorana neutrino exchange, we present the first complete calculation of the relevant nuclear matrix elements, performed within the interacting boson model (IBM-2). Furthermore, we calculate the relevant phase space factors using exact Dirac electron wave functions, taking into account the finite nuclear size and screening by the electron cloud. The obtained numerical r…