Correlating the 0<i>νββ</i>-Decay Amplitudes of ¹³⁶Xe with the Ordinary Muon Capture (OMC) Rates of ¹³⁶Ba

Abstract

The potential correlation between the ordinary muon capture (OMC) on 136Ba and 0νββ decay of 136Xe is explored. For this, we compute 0νββ-decay amplitudes for intermediate states in 136Cs below 1 MeV of excitation and for angular-momentum values J≤5 by using the proton–neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation (pnQRPA) and nuclear shell model (NSM). We compare these amplitudes with the corresponding OMC rates, computed in a previous Universe article (Universe 2023, 9, 270) for the same energy and angular-momentum ranges. The obtained results suggest that an extension of the present analysis to a wider energy and angular-momentum region could be highly beneficial for probing the 0νββ-decay nuclear matrix elements using experimental data on OMC rates to intermediate states of 0νββ decays.

Keywords

• double beta decay of Xe-136
• nuclear matrix elements
• muon capture on Ba-136
• muon-capture rates