Shake-up and shake-off effects in neutrinoless double-beta decay

Abstract

We revisit the role of shake-up and shake-off effects in neutrinoless double-beta decay, following earlier work by Drukarev et al. We find in agreement with Drukarev et al. that the Q value of the decay is reduced by any atomic excitation in the final-state but not by the difference in atomic binding energy of the initial and final state atoms, as was recently suggested by Mei and Wei. We discuss how the absorption of subsequent atomic de-excitation ejecta shifts the neutrinoless double-beta decay peak back to its nominal value. We propose an in situ experimental verification of these ideas, and discuss the impact of shake-up and shake-off on two-neutrino double-beta decay spectral shapes.