1

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

James Esterline
Abstract
With evidence for massive neutrinos and neutrino oscillations having recently been
established, neutrino physics beyond the Standard Model is of increasing interest. One proposed
treatment of the neutrino is that of a Majorana particle a particle that is its own antiparticle. As
a result of the violation of lepton number conservation that is necessary for a Majorana neutrino
to exist, phenomena such as neutrinoless double beta decay of atomic nuclei would be allowed.
The necessary theoretical modifications to the Standard Model to incorporate Majorana
neutrinos, the outline of the calculational procedure of obtaining the neutrinoless double beta
decay half-life, and an overview of the planned experiment of the Majorana Collaboration to
observe the process will be presented.
Table of Contents
Theoretical Background:
Majorana Particles
Pg. 2
Modification to the Standard Model Due to Majorana Neutrinos
Pg. 3
Double Beta Decay
Pg. 4
Calculation of Decay Rates for Double Beta Decay
Pg. 5
Candidate Nuclei for Double Beta Decay
Pg. 7
Experimental Measurement of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay:
Experimental Signatures of Double Beta Decay
Pg. 8
Experimental Design the Majorana Experiment
Pg. 9
Goals of the Majorana Experiment
Pg. 9
References:
Pg. 10
Appendix:
Pg. 11
2
Theoretical Background
The speculation that neutrinos behave in a manner not predicted by the minimal Standard
Model understandably predates the Standard Model. Ettore Majorana, the namesake of the
neutrinos of interest to neutrinoless double beta decay, lived in the early twentieth century; his
conjecture that neutrinos might not be Dirac particles comes very early in the history of the
neutrino, in 1937 [Boe87]. To integrate the behavior of such particles into the Standard Model to
provide the necessary quantities with which double beta decays can be calculated, one need first
examine the fundamental properties of the Majorana neutrino.
Majorana Particles
A crude definition, such as has been presented in the abstract, of a Majorana particle is
one that is equivalent to its own antiparticle. In the case of weakly interacting particles, such as
neutrinos, this definition fails due to the lack of charge conjugation symmetry in the weak
interaction: an antiparticle (in the sense of a charge conjugate of a particle) is ill-defined.
Instead, we use the presumably good symmetry of CPT (in addition to Lorentz transformations)
to describe the distinction between a Dirac and Majorana neutrino, following the argument
presented in [Boe87].
Consider a left-handed neutrino, !
L
, whose helicity is negative: its momentum is
antiparallel to its spin. Since it is massive and therefore moving slower than the speed of light,
there exists Lorentz boost that reverses the direction of momentum and necessarily leaves the
spin unchanged; hence, the particle is now a right-handed (positive helicity) neutrino, !
R
.
Consider that, instead of boosting to a frame in which the momentum is reversed, CPT is
operated on the left-handed neutrino. This necessarily gives a right-handed antiparticle to the
neutrino, which we call "!
R
. Since this particle is massive as well, there exists another Lorentz
boost which reverses the direction of momentum and results in a left-handed state, "!
L
. This gives
a total of four possible neutrino states. In the case that all four states are distinct, the particle is
called a Dirac particle; if the act of CPT is equivalent to that of the Lorentz transformation, that
is, if "!
R
is identical to !
R
, and "!
L
is identical to !
L
, the neutrino has only two distinct states
corresponding to the different chiralities or helicities; this is referred to as a Majorana neutrino,
as the diagram adapted from [Boe87] below illustrates:
Lorentz boost
Dirac:
!
L
"!
R
"!
L
!
R
CPT CPT
3
Lorentz boost
Majorana: !
L
!
R
CPT
Modifications to the Standard Model Due to Majorana Neutrinos
Before anything else need be considered, it is immediately obvious that lepton number
conservation is violated by the existence of Majorana neutrinos. In the current formulation of the
Standard Model, the neutrino is assigned a lepton number of +1 and the antineutrino is assigned
a lepton number of -1, with a distinction being made between the three lepton flavors. Evidence
in the form of neutrino oscillations has already shown that the flavor distinction in lepton number
is violated; the requirement that a neutrino be its own antiparticle would force neutrinos and
antineutrinos to have lepton numbers of the same sign, and one can quickly conclude, by
examining beta decays (which would require charged leptons to carry lepton number opposite to
those of associated neutrinos) and other weak processes (muon decay, with the above
assumptions, would be necessarily neutrinoless), that the concept of conserved lepton number is
no longer valid.
There is also the possibility, as will be examined in further detail, that right-handed
interactions need be introduced into the Standard Model electroweak Hamiltonian. To do this,
one merely parametrizes the inclusion of right-handed terms in the electroweak interaction
(formulation for energies below the W mass):
( ) ( ) ( ) . .
2
c h M M J M M J
G
H
R L R R L L W
+ + + + =
! !
!
! !
!
" # $
This differs from the Standard Model by the inclusion of right-handed lepton current J
R
and right-handed quark current M
R
(# in the above equation denotes four-vector notation);
equivalently, it retrieves the Standard Model in the case where the dimensionless parameters $,
%, and & are zero. Due to the observation that, if right-handed lepton currents are present at all in
the weak interaction, they are highly suppressed, the coefficients % and & are generally presumed
very small.
Note that a further modification arising from the inclusion of right-handed currents is the
existence of a right-handed W boson, which presumably interacts much more weakly than its
left-handed counterpart. No deeper explanation of such a particle was to be found in the
literature, however.
4
Double Beta Decay
Double beta decay is the process by which an atomic nucleus with mass number A and
atomic number Z decays to an atomic nucleus with the same mass number but atomic number
Z+2 along with two electrons (and typically two neutrinos):
A
Z !
A
(Z+2) + 2e
-
+ 2"!
e
This decay is described using the following diagram:
The intermediate (and generally energetically disallowed)
A
Z+1 nucleus is virtual in the above
diagram, which represents the so-called two-nucleon mechanism of double beta decay [Boe87].
This is simply the second-order process corresponding to single beta decay; essentially, it
represents two simultaneous single beta decays, and operates well within the confines of the
current Standard Model.
Neutrinoless double beta decay is identical to two-neutrino double beta decay except for
the omission of the neutrinos from the decay products:
A
Z !
A
(Z+2) + 2e
-
The process by which neutrinoless double beta decay proceeds is quite different from that
of two-neutrino decay. The two-nucleon mechanism is inadequate to explain the annihilation of
the emitted neutrinos; assuming massive neutrinos, there are two possible diagrams for this
reaction, shown as follows (arrows denote the helicity):
The decay depicted above requires the interaction of a right-handed neutrino at the lower
vertex, violating the exclusive left-handedness of the weak interaction. Consequently, we are
required to make use of the right-handed addition to the weak interaction presented in the
previous section. As [Boe87] also points out, this decay is prohibited in the absence of neutrino
mixing.
e
-
e
-
!
e
!
e
p

p

p

p

A
Z
p

(
A
Z+1)
p

A
Z+2
p

n
p

n
p

e
-
e
-
"!
e
"
p

p

p

p

A
Z
p

(
A
Z+1)
p

A
Z+2
p

n
p

n
p

"!
e
"
5
The decay depicted above maintains the left-handedness of the weak interaction, but has
a helicity mismatch in the exchange of the Majorana neutrino. This is only possible if the
neutrino is massive (as has been supported experimentally); in this case, the helicity of the
neutrino emitted at the first vertex contains a positive component proportional to the neutrinos
mass divided by its energy, which, considering the energy available to double beta decays (on
the order of MeV), is a remarkably small, but nonzero, quantity.
Calculation of Decay Rates for Double Beta Decay
Fermis Golden Rule gives the second-order weak decay (that which proceeds via the
two-nucleon mechanism) to be
2
,
2
! !
" " "
#
#
$
%
&
&
'
(
" =
) *
)
)
+, -
m e m i f
f i
E E E E
i H m m H f
E E d
where the sum over m represents the sum over the intermediate states of the virtual nucleus.
Despite the neutrinos nonvanishing mass, p
!
= E
!
is still a good approximation, and is used
henceforth.
Substituting in for the weak Hamiltonian H
'
, which is the product of nuclear and leptonic
currents, we obtain
( )
2
, , ,
4 4
cos 8
! ! !
" " "
#
#
$
%
&
&
'
(
" =
) )
* + ,
* +
* +
,
, ,
- . / 0
m n n e m i
n n n n
f
f i c F
e
e e
E p E E
J J
i M m m M f E E G d
where the notation of [Boe87] has been used: M is the nuclear current, n
e(!)
is either 1 or 2
(labeling each emitted pair of leptons), and n
e(!)
is the complement of n
e(!)
(that is, 3 - n
e(!)
).
From this, we may extract the decay rate for the two-neutrino double beta decay, w
2!
,
using the derivation in [Boe87]:
( )
( ) ( ) ( )
! ! !
" " "
" " " #
$
%
&
'
(
=
e
e
e
e
e
e
m E
m
e e
E E
m
e e e e
m E
m
e e e e
C F
dp p E E E Xp dE E p E Z F dE E p E Z F
G 0 1 0 0
1
2
1 2 1 0
2
1 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1
7
4 4
2
, ,
8
cos
) ) ) )
*
+
,
where E
0
is the decay energy of the double beta decay, and F(Z,E) is the Fermi function, which
provides the contribution to the decay of the electromagnetic interaction between the nucleus and
emitted electrons.
e
-
e
-
"!
e
"
p

p

p

p

A
Z
p

(
A
Z+1)
p

A
Z+2
p

n
p

n
p

"!
e
"
6
The factor of X in the above expression contains all the nuclear matrix elements; it is
given for 0
+
! 0
+
decays (a good assumption, considering that all known double-beta-decaying
nuclei are even-even and hence both parent and daughter nuclei have ground states of 0
+
) in
[Boe87]; combined with the Primakoff-Rosen approximation:
( )
! "
!
! "
Z
e
Z
p
E
E Z F
2
0
1
2
lim ,
#
$
#
= ,
this results in an energy dependence of the form:
!
!
"
#
$
$
%
&
+ + + + '
1980 90 9 2
1
4
0
3
0
2
0 0 7
0 2
E E E E
E
(
)
The resulting half-life for two-neutrino beta decay is expressed as
( ) [ ] ( )
2
2
2
2
2
0
2 2
2 / 1
, 0 0
! ! ! !
F
A
V
GT
M
g
g
M Z E G T " = #
+ +
where G
2!
is a lepton phase space factor, M
GT
and M
F
are the Gamow-Teller and Fermi matrix
elements, respectively, whose formulae are provided below:
!
! !
+ "
#
=
+ + + +
m f i m
k
i k k
l
l l f
GT
M M E
m m
M
2 / ) (
0 0
2
$ % $ %
&
r r
!
! !
+ "
=
+ + + +
m f i m
k
i k
l
l f
F
M M E
m m
M
2 / ) (
0 0
2
# #
$
where the summation over l and k are over individual nucleons; (
+
and ) are the nucleonic
isospin raising operator and the nucleonic spin operator, respectively. [Hor02] notes that the
Fermi contribution can generally be eliminated, due to the restriction *T = 0 (that the nuclear
isospin must not change) being invalidated by most double beta decays due to proceeding from
prohibited intermediate states.
The calculation for neutrinoless double beta decay can proceed over either of the two
postulated channels presented in the previous section (that is, through the right-handed
component arising from the massiveness of the neutrino or through weak coupling to right-
handed particles).
For the case where right-handed currents have not been added to the electroweak
Hamiltonian, the decay rate may be expressed as:
( )
!
" + + =
spins
e e i f e e
p d p d M E E E R
2
3
1
3
2 1
2
0 0
2 # $ %
& &
where R
0n
is the transition amplitude, E
f
is the energy of the daughter nucleus, and M
i
is the mass
of the parent nucleus.
Integration over lepton part of the amplitude is given by [Boe87], and yields a neutrino
potential H
n
(r,E
m
), dependent in general on the energy of the intermediate nucleus E
m
, that
represents the propagator between the nucleons involved in the double beta decay. As argued for
in the mentioned source, the potential can be reasonably approximated as a 1/r central potential,
roughly:
( )
j
rm
m n
e
r
R
E r H ! ,
7
where R is the nuclear radius, and m
j
is the neutrino mass. It is noted that this expression is
independent of the energy of the intermediate nucleus.
With the addition of the parameters & and % (the effect of $ on the decay rate is negligible
according to [Hor02]), the general expression for the inverse of the neutrinoless double beta
decay half-life can be expressed as:
( ) [ ] ( )
2 2
2
2
0
2
2
0
0
0 0
2 / 1
, 0 0
! ! " " ! "
!! "! ""
#
!
#
"
#
# # # #
C C C
m
m
C
m
m
C
m M
g
g
M Z E G T
e
m
e
m
F
A
V
GT
+ + + + +
$ = %
+ +
where the C
ij
are factors containing the nuclear matrix elements and phase space integrals, and
G
0!
is the phase space integral for the neutrinoless decay.
In the case where right-handed currents are ignored, and the Primakoff-Rosen
approximation is used, G
0!
is approximated by:
!
"
#
$
%
&
' + + (
5
2
3 30
0
0 0 0
E
E E
G
)
It is noted that, since neutrinoless double beta decay has two fewer decay products, the
phase space factor is reduced by a factor of E
0
6
, making the neutrinoless mode a very accurate
probe for the measurement of the neutrino mass for low energy decays.
The nuclear matrix elements differ from those for the two neutrino decay only by the
inclusion of the neutrino potential H
n
(r,E
m
).
Candidate Nuclei for Double Beta Decay
The kinematics of double beta decay allow a vast number of prospective nuclides to
undergo the process. The reaction
A
Z !
A
(Z+2) + 2e
-
(+ 2"!
e
)
has as the only constraint that the nucleus with Z protons and (A-Z) neutrons (here denoted by
A
Z) have greater mass than the nucleus with Z+2 protons and (A+Z-2) neutrons (here denoted by
A
(Z+2)) and two electron masses (and two neutrino masses, although this is too small to
discriminate between allowed and disallowed processes). Equivalently, neglecting atomic
binding energy, the atomic mass of the parent need exceed that of the daughter. It is noted that
any beta-decaying nucleus that is also the daughter of a beta-decaying nucleus enables its parent
to decay to its daughter directly through double beta decay; however, this is in general not
interesting (only where the half-life for the original parent nucleus is sufficiently large under
single beta decay does the contribution from double beta decay become non-negligible). Instead
of considering these relatively difficult-to-measure processes, the categories of double-beta-
decaying isotopes is typically limited to those for which single beta decay is energetically
prohibited. There are relatively few of these nuclides, numbering about 26. Among the isotopes
with the highest decay energies and, hence, the highest decay rates based on available phase
space are
48
Ca (decay energy 4.27 MeV),
76
Ge (2.04 MeV),
82
Se (3.00 MeV),
96
Zr (3.35 MeV),
100
Mo (3.03 MeV),
110
Pd (2.01 MeV),
116
Cd (2.80 MeV),
124
Sn (2.29 MeV),
130
Te (2.53 MeV),
136
Xe (2.48 MeV),
148
Nd (1.93 MeV), and
150
Nd (3.37 MeV). These are all the nuclides with
8
more than 1.75 MeV decay energy; of these,
48
Ca and
96
Zr are capable of decaying through
single beta decay [Boe87], but the associated half-lives are extremely low.
Experimental Measurement of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay
The phenomenon of double beta decay is understandably a difficult one to measure, due
to the extremely long half-lives for the decays. The added constraint that the measured decay be
neutrinoless (two-neutrino decays have been observed and are in the literature) complicates
matters immensely. As shown in the previous section, neutrinoless double beta decays have
much larger half-lives, adding to the difficulty of obtaining a realistically detectable signal
(additionally complicated by background and noise, as will be mentioned later). Furthermore,
the distinguishability of neutrinoless- and two-neutrino-double beta decays lies primarily in the
summed energy spectrum of the emitted electrons, and requires precise energy resolution. One
of the proposed experiments to measure neutrinoless double beta decay is the aptly named
Majorana Experiment, whose details follow below.
Experimental Signatures of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay
The most obvious indication of neutrinoless double beta decay would be a well-defined
peak in the summed electron energy spectrum corresponding to the exact value of the decay
energy. (Two-neutrino double beta decay would have a summed electron energy spectrum
qualitatively similar to that of single beta decay: namely, a continuous energy distribution with
end-point energy extremely close to the decay energy, but without any peak in the electron
energy.) This difference between neutrinoless and two-neutrino energy spectra is due to the
absence of invisible neutrinos carrying away any of the decay energy, as they would when
present.
It is also conceivable to examine the excitation of the daughter nucleus to provide
evidence for neutrinoless double beta decay. This is due to the This is remarkably more
difficult in that, due to further limitations of phase space, the decay rate is again greatly
decreased, and also in that it is not direct evidence of neutrinoless double beta decay, as the
absence of neutrinos is not directly observed, as it is in the case of detecting electron energies.
On the other hand, it is generally easier to detect the emitted de-excitation gamma rays,
especially if two or more are emitted in coincidence. As mentioned in [Tor04], however, the two
techniques observing the electron energy spectrum and the emitted de-excitation gamma rays
would provide positive identification for a decay event.
It is worth noting that there has been a controversial claim to a measurement of a direct
observation of neutrinoless double beta decay in
76
Ge by the Heidelberg-Moscow Experiment,
with the half-life of the decay allegedly being measured to be 1.6+10
25
years [Kla01] (with an
estimated neutrino mass of about .39 eV. Since the methods of background subtraction applied
to the experimental data appear to be inadequate in determining a definite observation of
neutrinoless double beta decay, this result has been refuted, and a definitive measurement has yet
to be reported.
9
Experimental Design the Majorana Experiment
There are numerous possible experimental apparatus and configurations thereof that can
be used to obtain a definitive measurement of neutrinoless double beta decay. I choose to detail
only one of them, that of the proposed Majorana Experiment.
The Majorana experiment consists of multiple phases designed to study and optimize
several experimental details, such as expected levels of background and detector configuration,
culminating in the final phase of the experiment, which is expected to consist of an arrangement
of active high-purity Germanium detectors of total mass 120 kg (previously expected to be 500
kg; the revised design will be capable of being extended).
The first of the two preliminary phases of the experiment is currently in operation at
Duke University. This phase, the Segmented Enriched Germanium Array (SEGA) consists of a
segmented 1.2 kg high-purity Germanium detector enriched to 85% in
76
Ge (the natural
abundance being 7.8%). The intent of SEGA is to evaluate the method of background reduction
proposed for the final phase of the Majorana experiment, namely, the use of a segmented
detector to distinguish between single-site events corresponding to double beta decay
candidate signals (the distance the emitted electrons travel is at most a few millimeters) and
multi-site events, that is, the occurrence of signals in multiple segments of the detector at
approximately the same time generally associated with background. Pulse-shape discrimination,
a technique applied to distinguish between the types of particles generating the signal in the
detector, is also being evaluated. A schematic cut-away diagram of SEGA is included as Figure
1 in the Appendix.
A further phase is also in development. Entitled the Multiple Enriched Germanium Array
(MEGA), it consists of 16 segmented high-purity Germanium detectors it is designed to further
investigate the optimal detector configurations and background reduction techniques. Due to its
larger size and requirements for shielding, MEGA is a closer configurational approximation of
the final Majorana Experiment. A schematic of the MEGA apparatus is presented as Figure 2 in
the Appendix.
The Majorana experiment intends to make use of the ability of one of the Germanium
isotopes,
76
Ge, to undergo double beta decay, enabling the massive detector array to serve
simultaneously as the radioactive source. This is enabled by the proposal to enrich the desired
quantity of Germanium in
76
Ge using existing facilities in Russia, which is purportedly the only
location with the appropriate equipment to enrich such a considerable amount of Germanium.
The Majorana phase of the experiment would occur underground, and be in all regards
other than size much like the MEGA experiment in design. The energy spectra would be
narrowly gated about the 2039 keV decay energy of
76
Ge. A rendition of the proposed
experimental setup is shown in the Appendix as Figure 3.
Goals of the Majorana Experiment
The original goal of the Majorana Experiment in terms of data acquisition was to run for
a period of 5 years with 500 kg of enriched Germanium (hence, have 2500 kg-years of
Germanium to measure). With the reduction of Germanium proposed for the commencement of
the experiment to 120 kg (as the design has been altered to enable expansion of the detector after
data acquisition has started, this is not anticipated to be the amount of Germanium in the
apparatus for the entire experiment), the original sensitivity to neutrino mass has been reduced
10
from 50 meV to at most 200 meV, with the focus now being on refuting the purported result of
Heidelberg-Moscow.
References
[Boe87] F. Boehm and P. Vogel. The Physics of Massive Neutrinos. Cambridge Univ.
Press, Cambridge, 1987.
[Hor02] M. Hornish. Double Beta Decay of
100
Mo and
150
Nd to Excited Final States.
Ph.D. thesis, Duke University, 2002.
[Kla01] H. Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, et al. Modern Phys. Lett. A, 37(2001), 2409.
[Tor04] W. Tornow, representing the Majorana Collaboration. Private communication in
form of Majorana Experiment Draft Proposal.
11
Appendix
Figure 1: SEGA
This is a cut-away view of the SEGA detector, including lead shielding (at top) and
cryostat (the liquid nitrogen dewar for which is shown at the bottom of the figure). The actual
segmented Germanium crystal is the cylindrical gray object encased in the shielding. Source:
http://www.wipp.ws/science/DBDecay/SEGAandMEGAdescription.pdf.
Figure 2: MEGA
12
A cut-away diagram of the MEGA detector. Visible are the lead shielding and the
cryostat. Source: http://www.wipp.ws/science/DBDecay/SEGAandMEGAdescription.pdf.
Figure 3: Majorana
A cut-away diagram of the proposed Majorana experiment (shielding not shown). The
highly enriched, high purity detectors are located in the center; dewars for the cryostat are shown
at the sides. Source:
http://www.int.washington.edu/talks/WorkShops/Neutrino2000/WorkingGroups/Underground/D
eBraeckeleer_L/ht/07.html