The NUMEN project: NUclear Matrix Elements for Neutrinoless double beta decay
Abstract
The article describes the main achievements of the NUMEN project together with an updated and detailed overview of the related R&D activities and theoretical developments. NUMEN proposes an innovative technique to access the nuclear matrix elements entering the expression of the lifetime of the double beta decay by cross section measurements of heavy-ion induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions. Despite the two processes, namely neutrinoless double beta decay and DCE reactions, are triggered by the weak and strong interaction respectively, important analogies are suggested. The basic point is the coincidence of the initial and final state many-body wave-functions in the two types of processes and the formal similarity of the transition operators. First experimental results obtained at the INFN-LNS laboratory for the 40Ca(18O,18Ne)40Ar reaction at 270 MeV, give encouraging indication on the capability of the proposed technique to access relevant quantitative information. The two major aspects for this project are the K800 Superconducting Cyclotron and MAGNEX spectrometer. The former is used for the acceleration of the required high resolution and low emittance heavy ion beams and the latter is the large acceptance magnetic spectrometer for the detection of the ejectiles. The use of the high-order trajectory reconstruction technique, implemented in MAGNEX, allows to reach the experimental resolution and sensitivity required for the accurate measurement of the DCE cross sections at forward angles. However, the tiny values of such cross sections and the resolution requirements demand beam intensities much larger than manageable with the present facility. The on-going upgrade of the INFN-LNS facilities in this perspective is part of the NUMEN project and will be discussed in the article.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1811.08693,
title = {The NUMEN project: NUclear Matrix Elements for Neutrinoless double beta decay},
author = {F. Cappuzzello and C. Agodi and M. Cavallaro and D. Carbone and S. Tudisco and D. Lo Presti and J. R. B. Oliveira and P. Finocchiaro and M. Colonna and D. Rifuggiato and L. Calabretta and D. Calvo and L. Pandola and L. Acosta and N. Auerbach and J. Bellone and R. Bijker and D. Bonanno and D. Bongiovanni and T. Borello-Lewin and I. Boztosun and O. Brunasso and S. Burrello and S. Calabrese and A. Calanna and E. R. Chávez Lomelí and G. D'Agostino and P. N. De Faria and G. De Geronimo and F. Delaunay and N. Deshmukh and J. L. Ferreira and M. Fisichella and A. Foti and G. Gallo and H. Garcia and V. Greco and A. Hacisalihoglu and F. Iazzi and R. Introzzi and G. Lanzalone and J. A. Lay and F. La Via and H. Lenske and R. Linares and G. Litrico and F. Longhitano and J. Lubian and N. H. Medina and D. R. Mendes and M. Moralles and A. Muoio and A. Pakou and H. Petrascu and F. Pinna and S. Reito and A. D. Russo and G. Russo and G. Santagati and E. Santopinto and R. B. B. Santos and O. Sgouros and M. A. G. da Silveira and S. O. Solakci and G. Souliotis and V. Soukeras and A. Spatafora and D. Torresi and R. Magana Vsevolodovna and V. A. B. Zagatto and A. Yildirin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1811.08693},
year = {2018}
}