Calculating Double Beta Decay Rates: Is It as Simple as Multiplying Two Values?

[Aakash Sunkari]

Hey everyone,

I've learned about double beta decay and neutrinoless double beta decay recently. So we have two "conditions" for decay, 2v decay and 0v decay. Now, to the question I have:

There have been a lot of experiments measuring 2v decay rates, and there have been many experiments concerning a limit on Majorana mass for neutrinos in 0v decay. We have the following equation for 2v double beta decay rates:

(T ^2v_1/2)^-1 = G_2v | M_2v | ²

Where G is the phase space factor and M is the nuclear matrix element.

So I've acquired this list of values that correspond to the G and M values for 2ν Double Beta Decay values, and I am calculating the rate for the 2v Decay of 48Ca:

M value (Nuclear Matrix Element): ~0.05
(G^2v)^-1 value: 9.7 X 10¹⁶ y x MeV^-2

So my question is, in order to acquire the decay rate, do all I need to do is multiply these values? I know it seems silly to ask, but please bear with me. I am a high school student who is learning all of this physics for the first time (at a college), it just seems a little crazy that it could just be as simple as that

Thank you in advance!
-Aakash Sunkari

 

[mfb]

Do you get the correct units that way? If not, there is something missing.
This is a very useful thing to check in general. It doesn't help with dimensionless constants, but they are not that common.

 

[Aakash Sunkari]

Do you get the correct units that way? If not, there is something missing.
This is a very useful thing to check in general. It doesn't help with dimensionless constants, but they are not that common.

Thank you for your quick reply! I'll calculate it later today, and update this thread on my results.