Speaker
Fedor Simkovic
(Comenius University)
Description
Oscillations of two neutral atoms, which proceed with the violation of
lepton number, is proposed. One of the neutral atoms is stable, the other
one represents a quasistationary state subjected to electromagnetic
deexcitation. The underlying mechanism is a transitions of two protons
and two bound electrons to two neutrons $p+p+e^-_b+e^-_b \leftrightarrow n+n$.
A phenomenological analysis of the oscillations plus deexcitations
of atoms point out on a resonant enhancement of the neutrinoless
double electron capture ($0\nu ECEC$) decay rate, that has a
Breit-Wigner form. A resonant enhancement of the $0\nu ECEC$-decay
takes place when the atomic masses tend to be degenerate.
Qualitative estimates show that in searches for lepton number violation
oscillations of atoms might be a possible alternative to
the conventional mechanism of the neutrinoless double $\beta$
decay process with emission of two electrons.
The favorable atomic systems appear to be
$^{162}$Er$ \; \rightarrow \; ^{162}$Dy$^{**}$,
$^{156}$Dy$ \; \rightarrow \; ^{156}$Gd$^{**}$,
$^{152}$Gd$ \; \rightarrow \; ^{152}$Sm$^{**}$,
$^{112}$Sn$ \; \rightarrow \; ^{112}$Cd$^{**}$,
$^{74}$Se$ \;\rightarrow \; ^{74}$Ge$^{**}$ etc.
There is a request for measurement of atomic mass differences
with a precision of order of $10~ eV$.
Author
Fedor Simkovic
(Comenius University)
Co-author
Mikhail Krivoruchenko
(ITEP Moscow)
