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Ab Initio Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Matrix Elements for ^{48}Ca, ^{76}Ge, and ^{82}Se
A Belley1,2,3, C G Payne1,3, S R Stroberg4
1TRIUMF 4004 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada.
Abstract:
We calculate basis-space converged neutrinoless ββ-decay nuclear matrix elements for the lightest candidates: ^{48}Ca, ^{76}Ge, and ^{82}Se. Starting from initial two- and three-nucleon forces, we apply the ab initio in-medium similarity renormalization group to construct valence-space Hamiltonians and consistently transformed ββ-decay operators. We find that the tensor component is non-negligible in ^{76}Ge and ^{82}Se, and the resulting nuclear matrix elements are overall 25%-45% smaller than those obtained from the phenomenological shell model. While a final matrix element with uncertainties still requires substantial developments, this work nevertheless opens a path toward a true first-principles calculation of neutrinoless ββ decay in all nuclei relevant for ongoing large-scale searches.
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