4 April 1996

PHYSICS

ELSEVIER

LETTERS B

Physics Letters B 372 (1996) 8-14

On the observability of Majoron emitting double beta decays

M. Hirsch, H.V. Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, S.G. Kovalenko , H. Pb
Max-Planck-Institutfiir

Kemphysik,

PO. Box 10 39 80, D-69029 Heidelberg,

Germany

Received 24 October 1995; revised manuscript received 8 January 1996

Editor: C. Mahaux

Abstract

Because of the fine-tuning problem in classical Majoron models in recent years several new models were invented. It
is pointed out that double beta decays with new Majoron emission depend on new matrix elements, which have not been
considered in the literature. A calculation of these matrix elements and phase space integrals is presented. We find that for
new Majoron models extremely small decay rates are expected.
PAW 13.15; 23.40; 21.6OJ; 14.80
Keywords: Majoron; Double beta decay; QRPA; Neutrino interactions

In many theories of physics beyond the standard

model neutrinoless double beta decays can occur with
the emission of new bosons, so-called Majorons [ l41:
2n --+ 2p + 2e- + 4,

(1)

2n-+2p+2ee+24.

(2)

Since classical Majoron models [ I,.5] require severe

fine-tuning in order to preserve existing bounds on
neutrino masses and at the same time get an observable
rate for Majoron emitting double beta decays in recent
years several new Majoron models have been constructed [ 6-81, where the terminus Majoron means in
a more general sense light or massless bosons with
couplings to neutrinos. The main novel features of the
New Majorons are that they can carry units of leptonic charge, that there can be Majorons which are
On leave from Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna,
Russia.

no Goldstone bosons [6] and that decays with the

emission of two Majorons [ 4,7] can occur. The latter
can be scalar-mediated or fermion-mediated. In vector
Majoron models the Majoron becomes the longitudinal component of a massive gauge boson [ 81 emitted
in double beta processes. For simplicity we will call
it Majoron, too.
In Table 1 the nine Majoron models we considered
are summarized [ 7,8]. It is divided in the sections I
for lepton number breaking and II for lepton number
conserving models. The table shows also whether the
corresponding double beta decay is accompanied by
the emission of one or two Majorons.
The next three entries list the main features of the
models: The third column lists whether the Majoron
is a Goldstone boson or not (or a gauge boson in case
of vector Majorons IIF). In column four the leptonic
charge L is given. In column five the spectral index
n of the sum energy of the emitted electrons is listed,
which is defined from the phase space of the emitted
particles, G N (Qpa - T), where Qpa is the energy

0370-2693/96/$12.00 @ 1996 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

PII SO370-2693 (96)00038-X

M. Hirsch et al. /Physics Letters B 372 11996)8-14

Table I
Different Majoron models according to Bamert/Burgess/
Mohapatm 191. The case IIF corresponds to the model of
Carone IlOl.

leads to the classical Majoron models [ 1,2, lo] . For all

ordinary Majorons the effective Majoron-neutrino interaction Lagrangian, leading to Ovp&b decay is [ 2,6]

Case

Modus

Goldstone boson

Matrix element

L$.y. = -iq(aijPL

IB

BP+

no

PPd

yes

1
1

MF - MGT

IC

MF-MGT

ID

PBd4

no

IE
IIB

PB&#J
PBdJ

yes
no

Here, PR/L = l/2( 1 f ~5). Using Eq. (4) the amplitude corresponding to the Feynman graph is, in the
notation of [ 61

IIC
IID

PAfJ
PP&P

IIE
IIF

P/W4
PP4

3
3

hf,2

MGTo2

MFw2 -

h&Tw2

yes

-2
-2

MF-MCT
MCR

no

-1

,+fF2 -

hf~T~2

yes
gauge boson

-1
-2

MFw2 -

%Tw2

MCR

I(&)Im+%j2.%B,r

(3)

with m = 2 for P/%$-decays or m = 4 for p/3&5decays. The index cyin Eq. (3) indicates that effective
coupling constants g,, nuclear matrix elements M,
and phase spaces Gns, differ for different models.
As shown in Table 1, several Majoron models with
different theoretical motivation can lead to signals in
double beta decays which are experimentally indistinguishable. The interpretation of experimental halflife limits in terms of the effective Majoron-neutrino
coupling constant is therefore model dependent. Subsequently we give a brief summary of the theoretical
background on which our conclusions on the different
Majoron models are based.
Single Majoron emitting double beta decays
(Ovpp#) can be roughly divided into two classes,
n = 1 (case IB, IC and IIB) and n = 3 (IIC and IIF)
decays.
As has been noted in [ 71 as long as Ovpp decay has
not been observed, the three n = 1 decays are indistinguishable from each other. We will call these Majorons
ordinary, since they contain the subgroup IC, which

(4)

mimjaij + $bij

d4q
J

V,p-

+ h.c.

i.j
x-

release of the decay and T the sum energy of the two

electrons. The different shapes can be used to distinguish the different decay modes from each other and
the double beta decay with emission of two neutrinos. In the last column we listed the nuclear matrix
elements which will be defined in more detail later.
Nuclear matrix elements are necessary to convert halflives (or limits thereof) into values for the effective
Majoron-neutrino coupling constant, using the approximate (see below) relations [4,9] :

+ bijPR)vj$*

(2rr)4

x (WF -

(q2 -

112;+ k)(q2

rn! + k)
(5)

WGT).

&, V, are elements of the neutrino mixing matrix, mi

and mj denote neutrino mass eigenvalues and W/T/CT
are nuclear matrix elements containing double Fermi
and Gamow-Teller operators. To arrive at the factorized decay rate Eq. (3), the usual assumption mi,j <<
q x pF x O( 100 MeV) , where pi is the typical Fermi
momentum of nucleons, is made. By this assumption
the term proportional to aij can be dropped and the
effective coupling constant is defined as

(g).M. = 1

VciVejbij.

(6)

i,j

In this approximation matrix elements for ordinary

Majoron decays coincide with the leading terms Mar
and MF of the well-known mass mechanism of Ovpfl
decay.
Burgess and Cline advocated the so-called charged
Majoron model IIC [ 61. In this model the effective
interaction Lagrangian is
L=
&v = -&y(ALPL

2f

+ ARPR)vJ I(cj + h.c.

(7)

Note that in the charged Majoron model the two

additional powers of n in the phase space integrals
originate from the derivative coupling of the Majoron
in L$y.. As shown in [ 61, for charged Majorons the
contribution from the leading order matrix elements
to the decay rate vanishes identically, so that one has
to go to the next higher order in the non-relativistic
impulse approximation of hadronic currents. The amplitude for Ovp&b decay is then given by

M. Hirsch et al. /Physics Letters B 372 (1996) 8-14

10

Ac.M.(O~/l/3#) = S&x

&i&j
k.i

x-

qbij
d4q
(2n)4(q2-m~+ie)(q2-m~+ie)
w6)7

x (w5 +

(8)

which leads to an effective coupling constant (g)C.M.

as in the ordinary Majoron case, but with bij given by
b = $ ( A~rn + rn*A~), with the neutrino mass matrix
m, generator matrices AL/~ and the decay constant f.
The hadronic term w6 is similar but not identical to
the recoil matrix element of Or@ decay induced by
right-handed currents. This difference has turned out
to be important. In the notation of [6]

w5=/q(2(qz

yL2
+

ie)

(~l~-iq[g2A(Gwtl

D,, x anI II),

- Gt@,)

(10)

in which the summation over C,,,,, 7,~; is suppressed.

Here, C, and D, are nuclear recoil terms [9]
C, = (P, + P;) . a,/Wfn)
- (=% - J%) (P, - p,> . a,/Vmi),
D, = [(P,

+Pk)

-t-O.qdPn-J$)

(11)

ordinary Majoron model, with the replacement bij =

& (Cijmj - midij) , where M is the gauge boson mass.
As discussed in [ 81, the vector Majoron amplitude
approaches the charged Majoron one in the limit of
vanishing gauge boson masses, which we assume in
the phase space integration. They depend on the same
nuclear matrix elements than the charged Majoron discussed above. We will therefore not repeat the definitions here.
Double Majoron emitting decays (Ov~@$q5), mediated by fermions, can have either spectral index n =
7 or n = 3, depending on whether the Majoron couples
derivatively suppressed or not. [ 71
In addition, in principle Ov/3&5 decays could also
be mediated by exotic scalars. The amplitude of scalarmediated decays, however, is expected to be very much
suppressed, since the scalars must have masses larger
than about 50 GeV due to the LEP-measurements [ 71.
We will therefore concentrate on the fermion-mediated
decays.
The Yukawa coupling of the Majoron to the neutrinos for the n = 3 decays (cases ID, IE, IID) is given
as
LYk= -q( AioPL + BiaPR) No4 + h.c.
&vu

(14)

where Aia and Bi, represent arbitrary Yukawacoupling matrices and N, are sterile neutrinos. The
corresponding amplitude for Ovfi@$ decay is

x ~,l/G!Md;

(12)
P,, (En) and Ph (EA) are momenta (energies) of
initial and final state nucleons, m, is the pion and M,
the nucleon mass and ,~uporiginates from the weak
magnetism.
The terms of wg are neglected compared to Wgdue
to theestimation (P,,+P,) < (P,-P,),
(E,-I$,)
5
0( Qpp) [ 91. Following [ 111 we will also keep only
the central part of the recoil term D. Although both
are approximations, which needs to be checked numerically, we do not expect it to affect any of our
conclusions.
Finally for vector Majoron models (case IIF) [ 81

Lzby = -4Yyp(CijPL
+ dijPR)VX + h.c.,
(13)
2.f
where Xc is the emitted massive gauge boson. The
effective coupling constant can be defined as in the

AD.M.(Ov@3+4) =

Jxja
(q2-m~+ie)(q2-m~+i~)(q2-m~+i~)
(WF -

WGT).

(15)

Although for AD.M.(Ovp&5~) the same combination of nuclear operators appears ( wF- War ) , note the
additional ( q2 - m2) - compared to A.M. (Ov@f~) .
JV&, in ( 15) is given by
Nija = -4 ( AioBjam,, f AjaBiamvi + BiaBjamN,,)
i- &Aj$%m@N,,.

(16)

In order to separate the particle physics parameters

from the nuclear structure calculation, it is most convenient to neglect the last term in Fq. ( 16). This can
be justified by considering that the mass eigenvalues

M. Hirsch et al. /Physics

so that the last term in Eq. (16) for not
too large m,v<,is suppressed compared to the first three
by at least m,,,/pF 2 0( 10-5-6). Then, the q2 is
absorbed into the neutrino potentials and we redefine
a,,, to obtain the effective coupling constant as

Letters B 372 (I 996) 8-14

II

in ,,, << pF

d3geiqr
u

fw(p,r)

m2R

=&

d qq e

CL + 20

(25)

(tL+w)*

iqr 3p2 + 9pW + 8W2

w~(p++)3
.

(26)
(S) = ( i

V,;V,j [A;oB,irrmr, + AjuBiamv,

ii

+ &B,,,wr,

I> t .

(17)

Note that we have arbitrarily absorbed a factor of

into the definition of (g) here to get for the effeitive coupling a dimensionless quantity.
For the II = 7 Ov/3/3&#~decays, the effective Lagrangian is (IIE/fermion mediated)

In-

I,l= --iFjyc( XiaPL + &PR) N,c?,+ + h.c.

L&J

(18)

Again, N, denotes a sterile neutrino and the derivative coupling of 4 accounts for the additional powers
of II in the phase space integrals. The amplitude for
n = 7 decays is the same as for the n = 3 case, discussed above, with the replacement: h/;ia= Xi,YhmN,.
Note that Xi, and & have the dimension of an inverse mass. Therefore, also (g) has a dimension of an
inverse mass. To define a dimensionless coupling constant in this case one would have to specify the symmetry breaking scale, which is however undetermined
by the model.
For the Majoron models considered in this work
there are five nuclear matrix elements to be calculated.
Within the closure approximation they are defined as
(19)

MGT& =
where

(NfIIh,2(~,r)T,+T,fo,a,IINi>,

(23)

h, denote the neutrino potentials

djq

h,,,,(wr)

&r

T/$ --w a+@

(24)

Here ,Z = (EN - El) denotes the average excitation energy of the intermediate nuclear states. w = J,m
is the energy of the neutrino and since we assume all
neutrinos to be light, the indices on neutrino masses
have been dropped. Note that in order to define matrix
elements dimensionless we follow the convention of
[ 91. That is h,,,(r)
and h,z (r) are arbitrarily multiplied by the nuclear radius R = roAf with ra = 1.2 fm,
while hR(r) includes the nucleon mass. Compensating factors appear in the prefactors of the phase space
integrals.
We have carried out a numerical calculation of
these matrix elements within the pn-QRPA model of
[ 12,131. To estimate the uncertainties of the nuclear
structure matrix elements the parameter dependence
of the numerical results has been investigated. Since
the matrix elements Mar and MF have been studied
before [ 121, we will concentrate on MCR, MCTZ
and MFJ. MGT and MF can be calculated with an
accuracy of about a factor of 2 [ 121.
The matrix element MCR shows a very similar behaviour as MGT. This is in agreement with the expectation, since only the central part of the recoil terms
is taken into account, so that apart from the different neutrino potential MCR has the same structure as
MGT. Neither variations of the strength of the particleparticle force gpp nor a change in the intermediate
state energies significantly affects the numerical value
of MCR. We therefore conclude that MCR should be
accurate up to a factor of 2, as is expected for MGT.
Unfortunately, in the case of the matrix elements
MGTo2 and MFJ the situation is very different. Both,
variations of g,,,, or p, can change the numerical results
drastically (Fig. 1). In fact, it is found that MGT,,,z
displays a very similar dependence on g,, as has been
reported in pn-QRPA studies of 21@ decay matrix
elements [ 121. Especially important is that in the region of the most probable value of g,, MGT,,,zcrosses
zero.
Also for variations of the assumed average intermediate state energy a rather strong dependence of the

12

M. Hirsch et al./Physics

Letters B 372 (1996) 8-14

Table 2
Dimensionless nuclear matrix elements of Majoron emitting modes
calculated in this work.
Nucleus

MF - MOT

MCR

Ge 76

4.33
4.03
4.86
3.29
4.49
3.90
1.82
5.29

0.16
0.14
0.16
0.10
0.14
0.12
0.05
0.15

(Qsp - EI -

~2) npkekf(ek)d~k,

Se 82
MO 100
Cd 116
Te 128
Te 130
Xe 136
Nd 150

Fig. I. MGTo2 - M,z dependenceof gpp for different intermediate

state energies En = 4 (top on the left), 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 (bottom
on the left) MeV for %e.

%B,

= aa *

*Fo2 - M~~o,2

N lo-3f
N lo-3*1
N 10-349
N lo-3f
N IO--W
N lo-3*1
1 :;I:::

(27)

where the prefactor a, depends on the Majoron mode

under consideration. A summary of the definitions is
given in Table 3. Qpa is the maximum decay energy, lk
and pk are the energies and momenta of the outgoing
results on the adopted value of ,Xhas been found. As
electrons and f( lk) is the Fermi function calculated
a consequence of this unpleasant strong dependence,
according to the description of [9]. Note the large
for an accurate prediction of MG-,-~z and MF@Z it seems
difference in the phase space values of the old (n = 1)
necessary to go beyond the closure approximation.
and new Majoron models.
The basic reason for the unusual sensitivity of
Having calculated nuclear matrix elements and
MGTo2and MFu2 on ,u can be traced back to a certain
phase space integrals, it is straightforward to derive
difference in the neutrino potential of these matrix
elements compared to MGT/F,hmass(p,r)
N turn2 limits on the effective Majoron-neutrino coupling
constants for the various Majoron models from exwhile hw2( ,u, r) N w -4. Contributions from very low
periment.
momenta are therefore much preferred in ho2( p, r)
Although experimental half-life limits are compacompared to h,,,,( p, r). (Note that this leads also to
rable
for all decay modes, as observed recently for
a much smaller value for a typical w than the naive
76Ge
decay
[ 14,151, restrictive limits on the coupling
expectation of 0 rV PF N 0(50-100) MeV!). With
constants
of
ordinary Majoron models contrast with
typical u of only U( few) MeV the strong dependence
limits
on
any
of the new Majoron models, which will
of &,,2(p. t) on ,U becomes obvious.
be
weaker
by
3-4 orders of magnitude.
Results of the calculation for various experimentally
The
surprisingly
weak limits which one obtains for
interesting isotopes are summarized in Table 2. Note
the
neutrino-Majoron
coupling constant due to small
that the matrix elements are valid for the limit of small
matrix
elements
and
phase
spaces for all of the new
intermediate particle masses, up to the order of 10
Majoron
models,
require
further
explanation. (Note
MeV. If any of the virtual particles in the Feynman
that
the
following
discussion
is
independent
of the
graphs can have masses larger than 10 MeV, the matrix
isotope under consideration.) Consider, for example,
elements are no longer constant and the values in Table
ordinary and charged Majoron OV/~/-&#
decays. Lim2 should only be taken as upper limits for the analysis
its on the effective coupling constant for single Maof data.
joron emitting decays will scale as (g) N A- (Tt/2 .
In comparison to the nuclear matrix elements phase
space integrals can be calculated very accurately, so
GBB)-'I*.
Thus,the relative sensitivity of a double
uncertainties of this calculation will not be discussed.
beta decay experiment on ordinary and charged MaWe define the phase space integral as
joron decays can be expressed as

hf. Hirsch et al./Physics

Letters B 372 (1996) R-14

13

Table 3
Values of phase space integrals calculated in this work.
Nucleus

p/34
n=l

n=3
(GFgAp.2.m;

In z 2S67r71n(2)fi(tn,R)*
Ce 76

I .25

Se 82

I .03 IO-15

MO 100
Cd 116
Te 128
Te I30
Xe 136
Nd IS0

1.80 IO_5
I .75 10-U

(g)O.M.
(~)c.M.

I .02
1.35
I .40
1.07

dC.M.
N m(y)

2.07
3.49
7.28
6.95
5.96
4.97
5.15
7.21

IO--6

10-17
IO_5
IO--5
IO_4

qjy.

(GF%A)~
f2
an = 64w7 In(2)ti

IO-9
IO_8
lo-*
10-l
10-Z
IO_8
10-n
IO_7

.(Qm-T).

Inserting the definitions of the corresponding amplitudes, it is clear that even if the half-life limit derived for the charged Majoron decay equals that of
the ordinary Majoron mode, limits on the charged
Majoron-neutrino
coupling constant will be weaker by
M, / ( Qpp - T) N 1000 ! (Note that this crude estimation is to first approximation
independent of nuclear
structure properties.)
A similar analysis can be easily done for double
Majoron emitting decays. Again, very crudely, a reduced sensitivity of (483)
.pr/(Qap
- T) N (few)
x I O4 for II = 3 double Majoron decay, compared to
ordinary Majoron decays, is expected. Here, the factor ( 487r2) is due to the phase space integration over
the additional emitted particle, while the latter factor
comes from the additional propagator.
One might think that since our definition of the
effective coupling constant for the n = 3 Ovpp@#
decays includes a factor mNa/mer where m& is the
sterile neutrino mass, one could get (g) easily as large
as wanted, since the mass of the sterile neutrino is not
bounded experimentally.
However, matrix elements
will fall off M N rn;f as soon as m& is larger than
the typical momenta. While for the matrix elements
Mot-/r for ordinary Majoron decays such a reduction
occurs starting from masses of exchanged virtual particles in the region of 100-1000 MeV, for Moroz/roz
the suppression will be important already for much

(G=~A)~ 2

(GI%A)~.~

au = 122881rgln(2)ti(m,R)2

aa= 215040?rgnz~In(2)fL(~n,R)2

6.32. 1O-g
1.01 . IO_7
1.85. lo-l7
1.60. IO-
1.28. IO-
1.06 . IO-l7
1.06. IO-l7
1.41 IO_6

1.21
7.73
1.54
I .03
I .20
4.83
4.54.
I .85

lo-*
10-17
IO--6
IO_6
10-Z

IO_7
lo-
IO-l5

Table 4
Comparison of half-lives calculated for different (&values for the
new Majoron models with experimental best fit values 116,i 8 J
Model

7.1,2((g) = lo-4)

Tl/Z((&?)

IBJCJIB
ID,IE,IID
IICJF
IIE

4 . 102*
I 08-42
2. 1028

4 104

1038-42

,022-26

= 1)

1022-26

2. 1020

~1/2exp

5.38. IO**
1.67. lO22
1.67 lO22
3.31 1022

smaller masses (see the Z&-dependence Fig. 1) . Also,

the contribution of the last term in Eq. ( 16) for larger
neutrino masses can be at most as big as the terms we
took into account. Since our conclusions are based on
a very rough estimation of MGTo2 - M~+,,z,they would
not be affected by the omission of these terms.
Since the sensitivity of double beta decay experiments to the new Majoron models is so weak, it might
be interesting to compare expected half-lives for the
different models for different (g), (g) M 10m4 as a typical sensitivity in coupling constant for ordinary Majoron models and (g) = 1 as an upper possible limit
allowed by perturbation theory, with current experimental limits of 0( lo**) years (see Table 4). From
this consideration it is very unlikely that any of the
new Majoron models can produce an observable rate
in planned or ongoing double beta decay experiments.
Only the charged and the vector Majoron model [ 631
could produce an observable effect if xii VeiV, is not
smaller than 0.1 and the real coupling constant of order 0( 1).

M. Hirsch et al. /Physics Letters B 372 (1996) 8-14

14

The authors would like to thank C.P. Burgess and

E. Takasugi for several discussions on the theoretical
aspects of Majoron models. The research described
in this publication was made possible in part (M.H.)
by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (446 JAP113/101/O and K1253/8-1) and (S.G.K.) by Grant
No. RIM300 from the International Science Foundation.
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