Towards Precise and Accurate Calculations of Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay: Project Scoping Workshop Report

V. Cirigliano; Z. Davoudi; J. Engel; R. J. Furnstahl; G. Hagen; U. Heinz; H. Hergert; M. Horoi; C. W. Johnson; A. Lovato; E. Mereghetti; W. Nazarewicz; A. Nicholson; T. Papenbrock; S. Pastore; M. Plumlee; D. R. Phillips; P. E. Shanahan; S. R. Stroberg; F. Viens; A. Walker-Loud; K. A. Wendt; S. M. Wild

AI summary · arXiv: 2207.01085v1 · nucl-th

Towards Precise and Accurate Calculations of Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay: Project Scoping Workshop Report

V. Cirigliano, Z. Davoudi, J. Engel, R. J. Furnstahl, G. Hagen, U. Heinz, H. Hergert, M. Horoi,

and 15 more authors

C. W. Johnson, A. Lovato, E. Mereghetti, W. Nazarewicz, A. Nicholson, T. Papenbrock, S. Pastore, M. Plumlee, D. R. Phillips, P. E. Shanahan, S. R. Stroberg, F. Viens, A. Walker-Loud, K. A. Wendt, S. M. Wild

Original paper Submitted to arXiv on 03 Jul. 2022 J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 49, 120502 (2022) This Project Scoping Workshop report is focused on the US context for the theory of neutrinloess double beta decay. Its authors plan to produce a journal article that addresses similar issues, but is more inclusive as regards non-US efforts on this problem. We would be happy to receive further input that will help us refine our text before it is submitted to the journal License: NONEXCLUSIVE-DISTRIB 1.0

How to read this summary? Illustrated guide

The essentials

The NSF Project Scoping Workshop report focuses on calculations for nuclear matrix elements in neutrinoless double-beta decay
Recent advancements in effective field theory, lattice quantum chromodynamics, and ab initio nuclear-structure theory are highlighted
Proposed projects aim to enhance accuracy and precision of matrix element calculations in theoretical and computational physics
Incorporation of Bayesian Model Mixing for uncertainty quantification is a key aspect of the roadmap
Analysis of correlations between double-beta-decay rates and other observables is discussed
Delivering accurate matrix elements with carefully assessed uncertainties will enable clear conclusions from observations or non-observations of neutrinoless double-beta decay
Authors plan to expand scope beyond the US context in a forthcoming journal article

Key points written by AI: they may contain errors, check them against the paper.

AI-generated keywords: National Science Foundation Project Scoping Workshop Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Nuclear Matrix Elements Roadmap

Read further

Comprehensive Summary
Layman's Summary
Blog article
Original abstract

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Scoping Workshop report titled "Towards Precise and Accurate Calculations of Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay" provides a comprehensive assessment of the current state of calculations for the nuclear matrix elements governing neutrinoless double-beta decay. The workshop aimed to determine if further work is needed in this area and to outline a roadmap for future research. The report highlights recent advancements in effective field theory, lattice quantum chromodynamics, and ab initio nuclear-structure theory as applied to double-beta decay. It also discusses the state-of-the-art in nuclear-physics uncertainty quantification and proposes specific projects in theoretical and computational physics to enhance the accuracy and precision of matrix element calculations. One key aspect of the roadmap is the incorporation of Bayesian Model Mixing for uncertainty quantification, along with an analysis of correlations between double-beta-decay rates and other observables. By delivering accurate matrix elements with carefully assessed uncertainties across all nuclei relevant to experimentalists, these calculations will enable clear conclusions to be drawn from observations or non-observations of neutrinoless double-beta decay, regardless of any new physics that may be at play. The authors acknowledge that while this report focuses on the US context for neutrinoless double beta decay theory, they plan to expand their scope in a forthcoming journal article to include non-US efforts on this topic. They welcome additional input to further refine their text before submission.

Introduction: The search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ) has been a major focus of nuclear and particle physics research for several decades. This rare process, if observed, would provide evidence for the violation of lepton number conservation and could shed light on the nature of neutrinos and their role in the evolution of the universe. However, detecting 0νββ is challenging due to its extremely low probability and requires precise knowledge of the nuclear matrix elements (NMEs) governing this process. The National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Scoping Workshop report titled "Towards Precise and Accurate Calculations of Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay" provides a comprehensive assessment of the current state of calculations for these NMEs.

Background: Neutrinoless double-beta decay is a hypothetical radioactive decay process where two neutrons inside an atomic nucleus simultaneously transform into two protons with no emission of neutrinos. This process can only occur if neutrinos are Majorana particles, meaning they are their own antiparticles. While there have been several experimental claims for observing 0νββ, none have been confirmed yet. Therefore, it is crucial to improve our understanding and calculation methods for NMEs to accurately predict 0νββ rates.

Workshop Goals: The NSF workshop aimed to evaluate whether further work is needed in calculating NMEs for 0νββ decays and to outline a roadmap for future research in this area. The workshop brought together experts from different fields such as effective field theory, lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD), ab initio nuclear-structure theory, uncertainty quantification, and Bayesian model mixing.

Recent Advancements: The report highlights recent advancements in effective field theory techniques that allow us to systematically incorporate higher-order corrections into calculations. These techniques have shown promising results in reducing theoretical uncertainties associated with NME calculations. Additionally, lattice QCD, a powerful tool for studying the strong nuclear force, has been used to calculate NMEs with increasing accuracy. This approach provides a first-principles calculation of NMEs and can be extended to include more complex nuclei. Ab initio nuclear-structure theory, which uses fundamental interactions between nucleons to predict properties of atomic nuclei, has also made significant progress in calculating NMEs. This approach is particularly useful for light nuclei where experimental data is scarce.

Uncertainty Quantification: The report discusses the state-of-the-art in uncertainty quantification (UQ) techniques for NME calculations. UQ is crucial in determining the reliability and precision of theoretical predictions. The workshop participants proposed using Bayesian model mixing as an effective method for incorporating uncertainties from different sources into final results.

Roadmap: The workshop participants developed a roadmap for future research on 0νββ decay calculations. One key aspect of this roadmap is the incorporation of Bayesian Model Mixing for uncertainty quantification, along with an analysis of correlations between double-beta-decay rates and other observables such as neutrino masses and mixing angles. To enhance the accuracy and precision of matrix element calculations, specific projects were proposed in theoretical and computational physics. These include improving lattice QCD simulations by including dynamical quarks, developing new methods for ab initio nuclear-structure calculations, and exploring new approaches such as machine learning techniques.

Impact: By delivering accurate matrix elements with carefully assessed uncertainties across all relevant nuclei, these calculations will enable clear conclusions to be drawn from observations or non-observations of 0νββ decay regardless of any new physics that may be at play. This will provide valuable insights into the nature of neutrinos and their role in shaping our universe. Moreover, these advancements will have implications beyond 0νββ decay studies. Accurate NMEs are essential inputs for other rare processes involving neutrinos such as neutrinoless double-electron capture and neutrinoless double-positron decay. These calculations will also contribute to our understanding of nuclear structure and the strong force.

Future Directions: The authors acknowledge that this report focuses on the US context for 0νββ theory, but they plan to expand their scope in a forthcoming journal article to include non-US efforts in this area. They welcome additional input from the scientific community to further refine their text before submission. Furthermore, the workshop participants emphasized the need for continued collaboration between theorists and experimentalists to validate theoretical predictions with experimental data. This will not only improve our understanding of 0νββ decay but also provide valuable insights into other fundamental processes involving neutrinos.

Conclusion: The NSF Project Scoping Workshop report provides a comprehensive assessment of current NME calculations for 0νββ decay and outlines a roadmap for future research in this area. The advancements highlighted in this report have the potential to significantly impact our understanding of neutrinos and their role in shaping our universe. With continued collaboration and advancements in theoretical and computational techniques, we are one step closer to accurately predicting 0νββ rates and potentially unlocking new physics beyond the Standard Model.

Created on 16 Nov. 2025

Was this synthesis useful?

Score: 0

Ask questions about this paper to our AI assistant

How to chat with this paper? Illustrated guide

Compare with the PDF

You can also chat with multiple papers at once here.

⚠The license of the paper does not allow us to build upon its content and the AI assistant only knows about the paper metadata rather than the full article.

AI assistant instructions?

Tools for this paper

Explain it differently 3 free rewrites left today

Save to a collection Group papers in collections to compare them, chat with them and export them. Create a free account Log in

Export BibTeX · RIS (Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote) · Markdown (Notion, Obsidian)

Advanced tools Premium

For researchers who follow a field closely: citation alerts, journal-club slides, version comparison and Zotero export. Discover Premium

Zotero

Citation alerts Citation alerts guide

Who works on it? The people and institutions who publish on its topic

Journal club Premium+ Slides to present it

Versions What changed between versions

Talk about it in public Premium+ Press kit: release, questions, hype check Press kit guide

Papers around this one

See them on a map

Ranked by how close their title and abstract are to this paper’s. Select some to read them together.

Closest papers

Close
Nuclear matrix elements of double beta decay from beta decay
Jouni Suhonen · 2004 · Phys.Lett. B607 (2005) 87-95 · AI summary available

Abstract
The evaluation of the nuclear matrix elements (NME) of the two-neutrino double beta ($2νββ$) decay and neutrinoless double beta ($0νββ$) decay using the proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation (pnQRPA) is addressed. In particular, the extraction of a proper value of the proton-neutron particle-particle interaction parameter, $g_{\rm pp}$, of this theory is analyzed in detail. Evidence is shown, that it can be misleading to use the experimental half-life of the $2νββ$ decay to extract a value for $g_{\rm pp}$. Rather, arguments are given in favour of using the available data on single beta decay for this purpose.
Related
Probing Nuclear Structure of Heavy Ions at the Large Hadron Collider
Heikki Mäntysaari, Björn Schenke, Chun Shen et al. · 2024 · Nuclear Theory · AI summary available

Abstract
We perform high-statistics simulations to study the impacts of nuclear structure on the ratios of anisotropic flow observables in $^{208}$Pb+$^{208}$Pb and $^{129}$Xe+$^{129}$Xe collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. Even with $40\%$ difference in atomic numbers between $^{208}$Pb and $^{129}$Xe nuclei, the ratios of anisotropic flow in the same centrality class between the two collision systems are strongly affected by the nuclear structure inputs in the initial state. The ratios of $v_2\{4\}/v_2\{2\}$ in these collisions are sensitive to the nuclear skin thickness of the colliding nuclei, providing indirect constraints on the nuclei's neutron skin. Our model predictions serve as a benchm…
Related
Decoding Neutron Star Observations: Revealing Composition through Bayesian Neural Networks
Valéria Carvalho, Márcio Ferreira, Tuhin Malik et al. · 2023 · Nuclear Theory · Not summarized yet

Abstract
We exploit the great potential offered by Bayesian Neural Networks (BNNs) to directly decipher the internal composition of neutron stars (NSs) based on their macroscopic properties. By analyzing a set of simulated observations, namely NS radius and tidal deformability, we leverage BNNs as effective tools for inferring the proton fraction and sound speed within NS interiors. To achieve this, several BNNs models were developed upon a dataset of $\sim$ 25K nuclear EoS within a relativistic mean-field framework, obtained through Bayesian inference that adheres to minimal low-density constraints. Unlike conventional neural networks, BNNs possess an exceptional quality: they provide a prediction u…
Related
Theory of Jet Quenching in Ultra-Relativistic Nuclear Collisions
Guang-You Qin · 2014 · Nuclear Theory · AI summary available

Abstract
We present a short overview of recent progress in the theory of jet quenching in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions, including phenomenological studies of jet quenching at RHIC and the LHC, development in NLO perburbative QCD calculation of jet broadening and energy loss, full jet evolution and modification, medium response to jet transport, and lattice QCD and AdS/CFT studies of jet quenching.
Related
Nuclear Matter and Nuclear Dynamics
M Colonna · 2009 · Nuclear Theory · AI summary available

Abstract
Highlights on the recent research activity, carried out by the Italian Community involved in the "Nuclear Matter and Nuclear Dynamics" field, will be presented.
Related
Parameterization of the Woods-Saxon Potential for Shell-Model Calculations
N. Schwierz, I. Wiedenhover, A. Volya · 2007 · Nuclear Theory · AI summary available

Abstract
The drastically expanded use of the Woods-Saxon potential in modern day nuclear physics and the availability of new nuclear data motivated us to review and optimize the parameters of this potential to the experimental single-nucleon spectra around the doubly-magic nuclei between $^{16}$O and $^{208}$Pb. We obtain a parameterization which is applicable over the whole nuclear chart for nuclides between $^{16}$O and the heaviest elements. Apart from Coulomb components the obtained parameter set is isospin symmetric. We demonstrate that the potential provides a good description of the nuclear mean field leading to quality single-particle spectra, nuclear radii, prediction of drip-lines, shell cl…
Related
Modeling the diffusive dynamics of critical fluctuations near the QCD critical point
Marlene Nahrgang, Marcus Bluhm · 2020 · Phys. Rev. D 102, 094017 (2020) · AI summary available

Abstract
The experimental search for the QCD critical point by means of relativistic heavy-ion collisions necessitates the development of dynamical models of fluctuations. In this work we study the fluctuations of the net-baryon density near the critical point. Due to net-baryon number conservation the correct dynamics is given by the fluid dynamical diffusion equation, which we extend by a white noise stochastic term to include intrinsic fluctuations. We quantify finite resolution and finite size effects by comparing our numerical results to analytic expectations for the structure factor and the equal-time correlation function. In small systems the net-baryon number conservation turns out to be quan…
Related
Models for photo- and electro-production of K^+ in view of new data
P. Bydzovsky, F. Cusanno, S. Frullani et al. · 2003 · Nuclear Theory · Not summarized yet

Abstract
Predictions of isobaric and Regge models are compared with the latest experimental data (Bonn,JLab) to select among the models those providing a satisfactory description of the data. Only the Saclay-Lyon and MAID models are in a reasonable agreement with both photo- and electro-production data ranging up to about 2.5 GeV.

Go further

How are these papers found?

We compare the title and abstract of this paper with those of every paper summarized on this site, and with the papers Semantic Scholar recommends, those it cites and those citing it (for a much-cited paper, its most recent citations and, from OpenAlex, the most cited ones). Among the prior work and the follow-ups, the papers that use each other in depth, a method it uses and the much-cited follow-ups come a little higher. The levels (very close, close, related) come from the similarity of the texts, not from a judgment of quality; * marks a paper without an abstract, compared by its title. The sentence under a paper is written by an AI from the two abstracts: check it in the papers. A paper marked not relevant by three readers leaves the list.

For now only among the papers summarized on this site: search again to add the prior work, the follow-ups and Semantic Scholar’s recommendations.

Disclaimer: The AI-based summarization tool and virtual assistant provided on this website may not always provide accurate and complete summaries or responses. We encourage you to carefully review and evaluate the generated content to ensure its quality and relevance to your needs.

Towards Precise and Accurate Calculations of Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay: Project Scoping Workshop Report

The essentials

Read further

Definitions

Ask questions about this paper to our AI assistant

Tools for this paper

Advanced tools Premium

Papers around this one

Closest papers

Go further

Cite this paper (BibTeX)