A method to implement realistic nucleon-nucleon residual interaction (Bonn CD force) based on the Brueckner G-matrix into the Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA) for deformed nuclei is formulated. The two-neutrino double decay for ground state to ground state transitions $^{76}$Ge$ \to ^{76}$Se and $^{150}$Nd $\to ^{150}$Sm is calculated along with the Gamow-Teller strength distributions. The effect of deformation on the observables is studied.
In this work, we take into consideration of Pauli Exclusion Principle(PEP) in the quasi-particle random phase approximation (QRPA) calculations for the deformed systems by replacing the traditional Quasi-Boson Approximation(QBA) with the renormalized one. With this new formalism, the parametrization of QRPA calculations has been changed and the collapse of QRPA solutions could be avoid for realistic $g_{pp}$ values. We further find that the necessity of renormalization parameter of particle-particle residual interaction $g_{pp}$ in QRPA calculations is due to the exclusion of PEP. So with the …
In this work we studied $β$-decay properties for deformed neutron-rich nuclei in the region Z=36-43. We use the deformed pn-QRPA methods with the realistic CD-Bonn forces, and include both the Gamow-Teller and first-forbidden types of decays in the calculation. The obtained $β$-decay half-lives and neutron-emission probabilities of deformed isotopes are compared with experiment as well as with previous calculations. The advantages and disadvantages of the method are discussed.
We study Gamow-Teller strength distributions of 76Ge and 76Se within a deformed QRPA formalism, which includes residual spin-isospin forces in the particle-hole and particle-particle channels. We consider two different methods to construct the quasiparticle basis, a selfconsistent approach based on a deformed Hartree-Fock calculation with density-dependent Skyrme forces and a more phenomenological approach based on a deformed Woods-Saxon potential. Both methods contain pairing correlations in the BCS approach. We discuss the sensitivity of Gamow-Teller strength distributions to the deformed me…
The recently proposed Fully-Renormalized QRPA (FR-QRPA), which fullfils the Ikeda sum rule (ISR) exactly, is applied to the two-neutrino double beta decay of $^{76}$Ge, $^{82}$Se, $^{100}$Mo, $^{116}$Cd, $^{128}$Te and $^{130}$Xe. The results obtained are compared with those of other approaches, standard QRPA and self-consistent QRPA (SCQRPA). The similarities and the differences among the methods are discussed. The influence of the restoration of the Ikeda sum rule on the $2νββ$-decay amplitude is analyzed.
We discuss properties of the quadrupole collective excitation of the deformed neutron-rich nucleus $^{38}$Mg within the framework of quasi-particle random phase approximation (QRPA). We first solve the coupled-channels equations to obtain the single-particle levels, and construct the ground state by treating the pairing correlations in the BCS approximation. We then solve the QRPA equation using the response function formalism, by including the continuum spectra with the box dicscretization method. We show that the collectivity of the gamma vibration (the lowest $K^π=2^+$ mode) is significantl…
We test the effects of an approximate treatment of two-body contributions to the axial-vector current on the QRPA matrix elements for neutrinoless double-beta decay in a range of isotopes. The form and strength of the two-body terms come from chiral effective-field theory. The two-body currents typically reduce the matrix elements by about 20%, not as much as in shell-model calculations. One reason for the difference is that standard practice in the QRPA is to adjust the strength of the isoscalar pairing interaction to reproduce two-neutrino double-beta decay lifetimes. Another may be the larg…
Background: To access selected excited states of nuclei, within the framework of nuclear density functional theory, the quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA) is commonly used. Purpose: We present a computationally efficient, fully self-consistent framework to compute the QRPA transition strength function of an arbitrary multipole operator in axially-deformed superfluid nuclei. Methods: The method is based on the finite amplitude method (FAM) QRPA, allowing fast iterative solution of QRPA equations. A numerical implementation of the FAM-QRPA solver module has been carried out for defo…
Background: The major challenge for nuclear theory is to describe and predict global properties and collective modes of atomic nuclei. Of particular interest is the response of the nucleus to a time-dependent external field that impacts the low-energy multipole and beta-decay strength. Purpose: We propose a method to compute low-lying collective modes in deformed nuclei within the finite amplitude method (FAM) based on the quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA). By using the analytic property of the response function, we find the QRPA amplitudes by computing the residua of the FAM amp…
We examine the violation of the Pauli exclusion principle in the Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA) calculation of the two-neutrino double beta decay matrix elements, which has its origin in the quasi-boson approximation. For that purpose we propose a new renormalized QRPA with proton-neutron pairing method (full-RQRPA) for nuclear structure studies, which includes ground state correlation beyond the QRPA. This is achieved by using of renormalized quasi-boson approximation, in which the Pauli exclusion principle is taken into account more carefully. The full-RQRPA has been applied…
The five-dimensional quadrupole collective model based on energy density functionals (EDF) has often been employed to treat long-range correlations associated with shape fluctuations in nuclei. Our goal is to derive the collective inertial functions in the collective Hamiltonian by the local quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA) that correctly takes into account time-odd mean-field effects. Currently, practical framework to perform the QRPA calculation with the modern EDFs on the $(β,γ)$ deformation space is not available. Toward this goal, we develop an efficient numerical method to…
The proton-neutron monopole Lipkin model, which exhibits some properties which are relevant for those double beta decay ($ββ$) transitions mediated by the Fermi matrix elements, is solved exactly in the proton-neutron two-quasiparticle space. The exact results are compared with the ones obtained by using the Quasiparticle Random Phase (QRPA) and renormalized QRPA (RQRPA) approaches. It is shown that the RQRPA violates the Ikeda Sum Rule and that this violation may be common to any extension of the QRPA where scattering terms are neglected in the participant one-body operators as well as in the…
A version of the pn-continuum-QRPA is outlined and applied to describe the Gamow-Teller strength distributions for $ββ$-decaying open-shell nuclei. The calculation results obtained for the pairs of nuclei $^{116}$Cd-Sn and $^{130}$Te-Xe are compared with available experimental data.
The effect of deformation on the two-neutrino double decay (2nbb-decay) for ground state transition 76Ge -> 76Se is studied in the framework of the deformed QRPA with separable Gamow-Teller residual interaction. A new suppression mechanism of the 2nbb-decay matrix element based on the difference in deformations of the initial and final nuclei is included. An advantage of this suppression mechanism in comparison with that associated with ground state correlations is that it allows a simultaneous description of the single beta and the 2nbb-decay. By performing a detail calculation of the 2nbb-de…
Reliable predictions of the static and dynamic properties of a nucleus require a fully microscopic description of both ground and excited states of this complicated many-body quantum system. Predictive calculations are key to understanding such systems and are important ingredients for simulating stellar environments and for enabling a variety of contemporary nuclear applications. Challenges that theory has to address include accounting for nuclear deformation and the ability to describe medium-mass and heavy nuclei. Here, we perform a study of nuclear states in an Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB…
A large Hilbert space is used for the calculation of the nuclear matrix elements governing the light neutrino mass mediated mode of neutrinoless double beta decay of Ge76, Mo100, Cd116, Te128 and Xe136 within the proton-neutron quasiparticle random phase approximation (pn-QRPA) and the renormalized QRPA with proton-neutron pairing (full-RQRPA) methods. We have found that the nuclear matrix elements obtained with the standard pn-QRPA for several nuclear transitions are extremely sensitive to the renormalization of the particle-particle component of the residual interaction of the nuclear hamilt…
A continuum-QRPA approach to calculation of the $2νββ$- and $0νββ$-amplitudes has been formulated. For $^{130}$Te a regular suppression (about 20%) of the high-multipole contributions to the $0νββ$-amplitude has been found which can be associated with additional ground state correlations appearing from the transitions to collective states in the continuum. At the same time the total calculated $0νββ$-amplitude for $^{130}$Te gets suppressed by about 20% as compared to the result of the usual, discretized, QRPA.
We have investigated the role of proton-neutron pairing in the context of the Quasiparticle Random Phase approximation formalism. This way the neutrinoless double beta decay matrix elements of the experimentally interesting A= 48, 76, 82, 96, 100, 116, 128, 130 and 136 systems have been calculated. We have found that the inclusion of proton-neutron pairing influences the neutrinoless double beta decay rates significantly, in all cases allowing for larger values of the expectation value of light neutrino masses. Using the best presently available experimental limits on the half life-time of neu…
Using the renormalized quasiparticle random phase approximation (RQRPA), we calculate the light neutrino mass mediated mode of neutrinoless double beta decay of Ge76, Mo100, Te128 and Te130. Our results indicate that the simple quasiboson approximation is not good enough to study the neutrinoless double beta decay, because its solutions collapse for physical values of g_pp. We find that extension of the Hilbert space and inclusion of the Pauli Principle in the QRPA with proton-neutron pairing, allows us to extend our calculations beyond the point of collapse, for physical values of the nuclear…
We show that the correlations of the quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA) significantly reduce the nuclear matrix element (NME) of neutrinoless double-beta decay by a new mechanism in the calculation for $^{150}$Nd $\rightarrow$ $^{150}$Sm. This effect is due mainly to the normalization factors of the QRPA ground states included in the overlap of intermediate states, to which the QRPA states based on the initial and final ground states are applied. These normalization factors arise according to the definition of the QRPA ground state as the vacuum of quasibosons. Our NME is close to…
In this paper a microscopic state-of-the-art approach to calculation of the nuclear matrix element $M^{0ν}$ for neutrinoless double beta decay with an account for nuclear deformation is presented in length and applied for $^{76}$Ge, $^{150}$Nd and $^{160}$Gd. The proton-neutron quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA) with a realistic residual interaction [the Brueckner $G$ matrix derived from the charge-depending Bonn (Bonn-CD) nucleon-nucleon potential] is used as the underlying nuclear structure model. The effects of the short range correlations and the quenching of the axial vector …
We perform a self-consistent relativistic QRPA (RQRPA) calculation of $2ν\b\b$-decay based on relativistic BCS (RBCS) mean field theory results for odd-odd intermediate nuclei $^{48}$Sc, $^{76}$As, $^{82}$Br, $^{100}$Tc, $^{128}$I, and $^{130}$I. The RBCS equations that resemble the non-relativistic ones are constructed from a Dirac-Gorkov variational functional. We use the parameter set $NL1$ for the $σ$, $ω$ and $ρ$ mesons. The RQRPA equations are solved for the residual $π+ρ$ interaction by employing the same parameters used in the RBCS for the latter meson, and experimental values for the …
Quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA) is applied to two nuclei, and overlap of the QRPA excited states based on the different nuclei is calculated. The aim is to calculate the overlap of intermediate nuclear states of the double-beta decay. We use the like-particle QRPA after the closure approximation is applied to the nuclear matrix elements. The overlap is calculated rigorously by making use of the explicit equation of the QRPA ground state. The formulation of the overlap is shown, and a test calculation is performed. The effectiveness of the truncations used is shown.
Fully consistent axially-symmetric-deformed Quasi-particle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA) calculations have been performed, in which the same Gogny D1S effective force has been used for both the Hartree-Fock-Bogolyubov mean field and the QRPA approaches. Giant resonances calculated in deformed $^{26-28}$Si and $^{22-24}$Mg nuclei as well as in the spherical $^{30}$Si and $^{28}$Mg isotopes are presented. Theoretical results for isovector-dipole and isoscalar monopole, quadrupole, and octupole responses are presented and the impact of the intrinsic nuclear deformation is discussed.
We use a deformed QRPA formalism to describe simultaneously the energy distributions of the single beta Gamow-Teller strength and the two-neutrino double beta decay matrix elements. Calculations are performed in a series of double beta decay partners with A = 48, 76, 82, 96, 100, 116, 128, 130, 136 and 150, using deformed Woods-Saxon potentials and deformed Skyrme Hartree-Fock mean fields. The formalism includes a quasiparticle deformed basis and residual spin-isospin forces in the particle-hole and particle-particle channels. We discuss the sensitivity of the parent and daughter Gamow-Teller …
We describe a new implementation of the quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA) in axially-symmetric deformed nuclei with Skyrme and volume-pairing energy-density functionals. After using a variety of tests to demonstrate the accuracy of the code in ^{24,26}Mg and ^{16}O, we report the first fully self-consistent application of the Skyrme QRPA to a heavy deformed nucleus, calculating strength distributions for several K^pi in ^{172}Yb. We present energy-weighted sums, properties of gamma-vibrational and low-energy K^pi=0^+ states, and the complete isovector E1 strength function. The QR…
We developed the deformed proton-neutron quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA) and applied to the evaluation of the Gamow-Teller (GT) transition strength distributions including high-lying excited states, which data becomes recently available beyond one or two nucleon threshold by charge exchange reactions using hundreds of MeV projectiles. Our calculations started with single-particle states calculated by a deformed axially symmetric Woods-Saxon potential. Neutron-neutron and proton-proton pairing correlations are explicitly taken into account at the deformed Bardeen Cooper Schriffe…
A method to calculate the nuclear double beta decay ($2νββ$- and $0νββ$-) amplitudes within the continuum random phase approximation (cQRPA) is formulated. Calculations of the $ββ$ transition amplitudes within the cQRPA are performed for ^{76}Ge, ^{100}Mo and ^{130}Te. A rather simple nuclear Hamiltonian consisting of phenomenological mean field and zero-range residual particle-hole and particle-particle interaction is used. The calculated M^{2ν} are almost not affected when the single-particle continuum is taken into account. At the same time, a regular suppression of the $0νββ$-amplitude is …
A self-consistent formalism for the double beta decay of Fermi type is provided. The particle-particle channel of the two-body interaction is considered first in the mean field equations and then in the QRPA. The resulting approach is called the QRPA with a self-consistent mean field (QRPASMF). The mode provided by QRPASMF, does not collapse for any strength of the particle-particle interaction. The transition amplitude for double beta decay is almost insensitive to the variation of the particle-particle interaction. Comparing it with the result of the standard pnQRPA, it is smaller by a facto…
We use the axially-deformed Skyrme Quasiparticle Random-Phase Approximation (QRPA) together with the SkM* energy-density functional, both as originally presented and with the time-odd part adjusted to reproduce the Gamow-Teller resonance energy in 208Pb, to calculate the matrix elements governing the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge, 130Te, 136Xe, and 150Nd. Our matrix elements in 130Te and 136Xe are significantly smaller than those of previous QRPA calculations, primarily because of the difference in pairing or deformation between the initial and final nuclei. In 76Ge and 150Nd our resu…
The effect of the inclusion of ground state correlations into the QRPA equation of motion for the two-neutrino double beta ($ββ_{2ν}$) decay is carefully analyzed. The resulting model, called renormalized QRPA (RQRPA), does not collapse near the physical value of the nuclear force strength in the particle-particle channel, as happens with the ordinary QRPA. Still, the $ββ_{2ν}$ transition amplitude is only slightly less sensitive on this parameter in the RQRPA than that in the plain QRPA. It is argued that this fact reveals once more that the characteristic behaviour of the $ββ_{2ν}$ transitio…
We present a calculation of the properties of vibrational states in deformed, axially--symmetric even--even nuclei, within the framework of a fully self--consistent Quasparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA). The same Skyrme energy density and density-dependent pairing functionals are used to calculate the mean field and the residual interaction in the particle-hole and particle-particle channels. We have tested our software in the case of spherical nuclei against fully self consistent calculations published in the literature, finding excellent agreement. We investigate the consequences of…
We show how the longstanding problem of the collapse of the charge-exchange QRPA near the physical value of the force strength can be circumvented. This is done by including the effect of ground state correlations into the QRPA equations of motion. The corresponding formalism, called renormalized QRPA, is briefly outlined and its consequences are discussed in the framework of a schematic model for the two-neutrino double beta decay in the $^{100}Mo \rightarrow\, ^{100}Ru$ system. The question of the conservation of the Ikeda sum rule is also addressed within the new formalism.
The one-QRPA method is used to describe simultaneously both double decay beta modes, giving special attention to the partial restoration of spin-isospin SU(4) symmetry. To implement this restoration and to fix the model parameters, we resort to the energetics of Gamow-Teller resonances and to the minima of the single $β^+$-decay strengths. This makes the theory predictive regarding the $ββ_{2ν}$-decay, producing the $2ν$ moments in $^{48}$Ca, $^{76}$Ge, $^{82}$Se, $^{96}$Zr, $^{100}$Mo, $^{128,130}$Te, and $^{150}$Nd, that are of the same order of magnitude as the experimental ones; however, t…
Gamow-Teller (GT) strength distributions of Mg isotopes are investigated within a framework of the deformed quasi-particle random phase approximation(DQRPA). We found that the N=20 shell closure in $^{28 \sim 34}$Mg was broken by the prolate shape deformation originating from the {\it fp}-intruder states. The shell closure breaking gives rise to a shift of low-lying GT excited states into high-lying states. Discussions regarding the shell evolution trend of single particle states around N=20 nuclei are also presented with the comparison to other approaches.
Double-beta decay matrix elements (ME) for $^{76}Ge$ are calculated with different quasi random phase approximation (QRPA)-based methods. First, the ME for the two-neutrino mode are computed using two choices for the single particle (s.p.) basis: i) $2-4\hbarω$ full shells and ii) $3-4\hbarω$ full shells. When calculated with the renormalized QRPA (RQRPA) and full-RQRPA their values are rather dependent on the size of the single particle basis used, while calculated with proton-neutron QRPA (pnQRPA) and second-QRPA approaches such a dependence was found to be small. The Ikeda sum rule was well…
The methods used till now to calculate the neutrinoless double beta decay matrix elements are: the Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA), the Shell Model (SM), the angular momentum projected Hartee-Fock-Bogoliubov approach (HFB) and the Interacting Boson Model (IBM). The different approaches are compared specifically concerning the the angular momenta and parities of the neutron pairs, which are changed into two protons by the $0νββ$ decay. The QRPA and SM involve about the same angular momentum and parity neutron pairs, while the HFB is restricted to $0^{+}, 2^{+}, 4^{+}, ...$, and …
Limitations of the Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA) are studied within an exactly solvable model, with a two body interaction of Fermi type. A special attention is paid to the violation of the Pauli exclusion principle (PEP) in solving the QRPA equation. A comparison of the exact solution, obtained by the diagonalization of a schematic nuclear Hamiltonian and those obtained within the standard QRPA, the renormalized QRPA, the QRPA with pertubative treatment of the PEP and the QRPA with exact consideration of the PEP, is presented. The agreement quality is judged in terms of the …
A selfconsistent approach based on a deformed HF+BCS+QRPA method with density-dependent Skyrme forces is used to describe beta+ decay properties in even-even deformed proton rich nuclei. Residual spin-isospin forces are included in the particle-hole and particle-particle channels. The quasiparticle basis contains neutron-neutron and proton-proton pairing correlations in the BCS approach, while neutron-proton pairing interaction is treated as a residual force in QRPA. We discuss the sensitivity of Gamow-Teller strength distributions and beta+/EC half-lives to deformation, pairing and the streng…
In a previous article [Phys. Rev. D 79, 053001 (2009)] we estimated the correlated uncertainties associated to the nuclear matrix elements (NME) of neutrinoless double beta decay (0 nu beta beta) within the quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA). Such estimates encompass recent independent calculations of NMEs, and can thus still provide a fair representation of the nuclear model uncertainties. In this context, we compare the claim of 0 nu beta beta decay in Ge-76 with recent negative results in Xe-136 and in other nuclei, and we infer the lifetime ranges allowed or excluded at 90% C.…
The validity of the pn-QRPA and -RQRPA descriptions of double beta decay transition amplitudes is analyzed by using an exactly solvable model. It is shown that the collapse of the QRPA is physically meaningful and that it is associated with the appearance of a state with zero energy in the spectrum. It is shown that in the RQRPA this particular feature is not present and that this approach leads to finite but otherwise spurious results for the double beta decay transition amplitudes near the point of collapse.
It is possible to employ virtual decay paths, including two-particle transfer, to calculate the nuclear matrix element of neutrinoless double-beta decay under the closure approximation, in addition to the true double-beta path. In the quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA) approach, it is necessary to introduce the product wave functions of the like-particle and proton-neutron QRPA ground states, for achieving consistency between the calculations of the true and virtual paths. Using these different paths, the problem of whether or not these two methods give equivalent nuclear matrix e…
We develop a new framework of the deformed quasiparticle-random-phase approximation (QRPA) where the Skyrme density functional and the density-dependent pairing functional are consistently treated. Numerical applications are carried out for the isovector dipole and the isoscalar quadrupole modes in the spherical $^{20}$O and in the deformed $^{26}$Ne nuclei, and the effect of the momentum dependent terms of the Skyrme effective interaction for the energy-weighted sum rule is discussed. As a further application, we present for the first time the moments of inertia of $^{34}$Mg and $^{36}$Mg usi…
In this work, with restored isospin symmetry, we evaluated the neutrinoless double beta decay nuclear matrix elements for $^{76}$Ge, $^{82}$Se, $^{130}$Te, $^{136}$Xe and $^{150}$Nd for both the light and heavy neutrino mass mechanisms using the deformed QRPA approach with realistic forces. We give detailed decompositions of the nuclear matrix elements over different intermediate states and nucleon pairs, and discuss how these decompositions are affected by the model space truncations. Compared to the spherical calculations, our results show reductions from $30\%$ to about $60\%$ of the nuclea…
Although nuclear energy density functionals are determined primarily by fitting to ground state properties, they are often applied in nuclear astrophysics to excited states, usually through the quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA). Here we test the Skyrme functionals SkM* and SLy4 along with the self-consistent QRPA by calculating properties of low-lying vibrational states in a large number of well-deformed even-even rare-earth nuclei. We reproduce trends in energies and transition probabilities associated with gamma-vibrational states, but our results are not perfect and indicate t…
We show that, within the Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA) and the renormalized QRPA (RQRPA) based on the Bonn CD nucleon-nucleon interaction, the competition between the pairing and the neutron-proton particle-particle and particle-hole interactions causes contributions to the neutrinoless double-beta decay matrix element to nearly vanish at internucleon distances of more than 2 or 3 fermis. As a result, the matrix element is more sensitive to short-range/high-momentum physics than one naively expects. We analyze various ways of treating that physics and quantify the uncertainty…
We suggest a generalized method for elimination of spurious admixtures (SA) from intrinsic nuclear excitations described within the Quasiparticle-Random-Phase-Approximation (QRPA). Various kinds of SA-corrections are treated at the same theoretical ground. The known corrections are well reproduced. As relevant cases, we consider subtraction of SA related with i) violation of the translational invariance (isovector E1 and isoscalar toroidal and compression E1 modes), ii) pairing-induced non-conservation of the particle number (E2(K=0) and E0 modes), and iii) rotational invariance (E2(K=1) and M…
To study shape fluctuations of nuclei in transitional regions, the collective Hamiltonian method has often been employed. We intend to construct the quadrupole collective Hamiltonian with the collective inertial functions given by the local quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA) based on the Skyrme energy density functional. For this purpose, we first construct a practical framework of Skyrme QRPA for triaxial nuclear shapes with the finite amplitude method (FAM). We show quadrupole strength functions for a triaxial superfluid nucleus $^{188}$Os and the Thouless-Valatin rotational mom…
Low-frequency modes of excitation in deformed neutron-rich nuclei are studied by means of the quasiparticle random-phase approximation on the Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov mean field. We investigate the microscopic structure of the soft $K^π=0^{+}$ modes systematically in neutron-rich Magnesium isotopes with $N=22, 24, 26$ and 28 close to the drip line, and it is found that the strong collectivity in $^{34}$Mg and $^{40}$Mg is acquired due to the coherent coupling between the $β$ vibration and the pairing vibration of neutrons. Microscopic structure of the $K^π=2^{+}$ modes changes gradually …
The overlap of the excited states in quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA) is calculated in order to simulate the overlap of the intermediate nuclear states of the double-beta decay. Our basic idea is to use the like-particle QRPA with the aid of the closure approximation and calculate the overlap as rigorously as possible by making use of the explicit equation of the QRPA ground state. The formulation is shown in detail, and the mathematical properties of the overlap matrix are investigated. Two test calculations are performed for relatively light nuclei with the Skyrme and volume d…
The transition matrix elements for the $0^{+}\to 0^{+}$ double beta decays are calculated for $^{48}Ca$, $^{76}Ge $, $^{82}Se$, $^{100}Mo$, $^{128}Te$ and $^{130}Te$ nuclei, using a $δ$-interaction. As a guide, to fix the particle-particle interaction strengths, we exploit the fact that the missing symmetries of the mean field approximation are restored in the random phase approximation by the residual interaction. Thus, the T=1, S=0 and T=0, S=1 coupling strengths have been estimated by invoking the partial restoration of the isospin and Wigner SU(4) symmetries, respectively. When this recipe…
A microscopic state-of-the-art calculation of the nuclear matrix element for neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{150}$Nd with an account for nuclear deformation is performed. The proton-neutron quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA) with a realistic residual interaction [the Brueckner $G$ matrix derived from the charge-depending Bonn (Bonn-CD) nucleon-nucleon potential] is used as the underlying nuclear structure model. The present calculated matrix element is suppressed by about 40% as compared with our previous QRPA result for $^{150}$Nd obtained with neglect of deformation. By mak…
Estimates of nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless double beta decay (0nu2beta) based on the quasiparticle random phase approximations (QRPA) are affected by theoretical uncertainties, which can be substantially reduced by fixing the unknown strength parameter g_pp of the residual particle-particle interaction through one experimental constraint - most notably through the two-neutrino double beta decay (2nu2beta) lifetime. However, it has been noted that the g_pp adjustment via 2\nu2βdata may bring QRPA models in disagreement with independent data on electron capture (EC) and single beta de…
We treat proton-neutron pairing amplitudes, in addition to the nuclear deformation, as generator coordinates in a calculation of the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge. We work in two oscillator shells, with a Hamiltonian that includes separable terms in the quadrupole, spin-isospin, and pairing (isovector and isoscalar) channels. Our approach allows larger single-particle spaces than the shell model and includes the important physics of the proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA) without instabilities near phase transitions. After comparing the results of a simplifi…
We use the finite amplitude method for computing charge-changing Skyrme-QRPA transition strengths in axially-deformed nuclei together with a modern Skyrme energy-density functional to fit several previously unconstrained parameters in the charge-changing time-odd part of the functional. With the modified functional we then calculate rates of beta-minus decay for all medium-mass and heavy even-even nuclei between the valley of stability and the neutron drip line. We fit the Skyrme parameters to a limited set of beta-decay rates, a set of Gamow-Teller resonance energies, and a set of spin-dipole…
We present an efficient method for calculating strength functions using the finite amplitude method (FAM) for deformed superfluid heavy nuclei within the framework of the nuclear density functional theory. We demonstrate that FAM reproduces strength functions obtained with the fully self-consistent quasi-particle random-phase approximation (QRPA) at a fraction of computational cost. As a demonstration, we compute the isoscalar and isovector monopole strength for strongly deformed configurations in $^{240}$Pu by considering huge quasi-particle QRPA spaces. Our approach to FAM, based on Broyden'…
An exactly solvable model suitable for the description of single and double-beta decay processes of the Fermi-type is introduced. The model is equivalent to the exact shell-model treatment of protons and neutrons in a single j-shell. Exact eigenvalues and eigenvectors are compared to those corresponding to the hamiltonian in the quasiparticle basis (qp) and with the results of both the standard quasiparticle random phase approximation (QRPA) and the renormalized one (RQRPA). The role of the scattering term of the quasiparticle hamiltonian is analyzed. The presence of an exact eigenstate with z…
