0+ -> 2+ neutrinoless double beta decay triggered directly by the Majorana neutrino mass

TL;DR

This paper analyzes 0+ to 2+ neutrinoless double beta decay, incorporating recoil corrections, and finds that its sensitivity to neutrino mass and right-handed currents is comparable to the standard 0+ to 0+ decay.

Contribution

It provides nuclear matrix element calculations for 76Ge and 100Mo and compares the sensitivities of different decay modes to neutrino properties.

Findings

Decay probability is quadratic in effective couplings and neutrino mass.

Calculated nuclear matrix elements for 76Ge and 100Mo.

Sensitivity of 0+ to 2+ decay is comparable to 0+ to 0+ decay.

Abstract

We treat 0+ -> 2+ neutrinoless double beta decays taking into account recoil corrections to the nuclear currents. The decay probability can be written as a quadratic form of the effective coupling constants of the right-handed leptonic currents and the effective neutrino mass. We calculate the nuclear matrix elements for the 0+ -> 2+ neutrinoless double beta decays of 76Ge and 100Mo, and demonstrate that the relative sensitivities of 0+ -> 2+ decays to the neutrino mass and the right-handed currents are comparable to those of 0+ -> 0+ decays.