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Double beta decay

Douglas Bryman* and Charles Picciotto

Douglas Bryman*

  • TRIUMF, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, V6T 1W5

Charles Picciotto

  • Physics Department, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada, V8W 2Y2

  • *Address until Sept. 1, 1978: National Science Foundation, Physics Division, Washington, D. C. 10550.
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Rev. Mod. Phys. 50, 11 – Published 1 January, 1978

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.50.11

Abstract

The problem of double beta decay is reviewed with emphasis on its relevance to lepton number conservation. Recently, the ratio of the double beta-decay half-lives of Te128 and Te130 has been measured in a geological experiment and a limit for the ratio of the neutrinoless rate to the total rate for Se82 decay has been obtained from a direct-detection experiment. For the first time, these results show conclusively that double beta decay is not primarily a lepton-number-violating neutrinoless process. However, they also do not agree with calculations which assume that only lepton-number-conserving two-neutrino double beta decay occurs. The conclusion that lepton number conservation is violated is suggested by limited experimental information. By considering contributions to the total rate from both the two-neutrino and the neutrinoless channels, we obtain data which are consistent with a lepton nonconservation parameter of order η=3.5×10−5. Roughly the same value of η is obtained by assuming that the decay occurs either via lepton emission from two nucleons or via emission from a resonance in the nucleus.

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Rev. Mod. Phys. 50, 11– Published 1 January, 1978

    © 1978 American Physical Society

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