Half-life of $^{136}$Xe for neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decay calculated with effective axial-vector current coupling unified for two-neurtino and neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decay modes

TL;DR

This paper calculates the neutrinoless double-beta decay half-life of $^{136}$Xe using a unified effective axial-vector coupling constant, reducing uncertainties in nuclear matrix elements and improving decay predictions.

Contribution

It demonstrates the convergence of the effective axial-vector coupling for both decay modes and applies this to accurately estimate the $^{136}$Xe decay half-life.

Findings

Effective axial-vector coupling constants for both decay modes are close.

The predicted half-life depends on the nuclear structure model used.

A value of $g_A^{eff} \\approx 1$ is obtained with the SkM$^*$ interaction.

Abstract

The upper limit on the mass of the Majorana neutrino, extracted from the limits on the nonobservation of the neutrinoless double-$\beta$ ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay, is hampered by uncertainties in the matrix elements of the transition operators. Recently, we have shown that the values of the effective axial-vector current coupling constants ($g_A^\textrm{eff}$) for the $0\nu\beta\beta$ and the two-neutrino double-$\beta$ decays are close. This striking result was obtained for the first time by including vertex corrections and two-body currents in these matrix elements. In this letter, we calculate the half-life for the $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay ($T_{1/2}^{0\nu}$) of $^{136}$Xe using this closeness and show the convergence of the half-life with respect to the variation of the method to determine $g_A^\textrm{eff}$. The closeness of the $g_A^\textrm{eff}$ of the two decay modes plays a decisive role in predicting $T_{1/2}^{0\nu}$. The appropriate value of $g_A^\textrm{eff}$ depends on the assumptions made for the sectors of the nuclear structure and transition operators of the calculations within the perturbation scheme. The value $g_A^\textrm{eff}\approx 1$ is obtained when the SkM$^\ast$ is used to describe the nuclear structure component, while a smaller value of $g_A^\textrm{eff}$ is obtained by applying a less realistic interaction like the SGII one.