General Behavior of Double Beta Decay Amplitudes in the Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation

Abstract

Simple formulae for the $0^+\to 0^+$ double beta decay matrix elements, as a function of the particle-particle strength $g^{pp}$, have been designed within the quasiparticle random phase approximation. The $2\nu$ amplitude is a bilinear function of $g^{pp}$, and all $0\nu$ moments behave as ratios of a linear function and the square root of another linear function of $g^{pp}$. It is suggested that these results are of general validity and that any modifications of the nuclear hamiltonian or the configuration space cannot lead to a different functional dependence.