First direct double-β decay Q-value measurement of 82Se in support of understanding the nature of the neutrino

Phys Rev Lett. 2013 Jan 4;110(1):012501. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.012501. Epub 2013 Jan 2.

Abstract

In anticipation of results from current and future double-β decay studies, we report a measurement resulting in a (82)Se double-β decay Q value of 2997.9(3) keV, an order of magnitude more precise than the currently accepted value. We also present preliminary results of a calculation of the (82)Se neutrinoless double-β decay nuclear matrix element that corrects in part for the small size of the shell model single-particle space. The results of this work are important for designing next generation double-β decay experiments and for the theoretical interpretations of their observations.