Probing the quenching of gA by single and double beta decays

Abstract

Ground-state-to-ground-state two-neutrino double beta (2νββ) decays and single beta (EC and β−) decays are studied for the A=100 (100Mo100Tc100Ru), A=116 (116Cd116In116Sn) and A=128 (128Te128I128Xe) nuclear systems by using the proton–neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation exploiting realistic effective interactions in very large single-particle bases. The aim of this exercise is to see if both the single-beta and double-beta decay observables related to the ground states of the initial, intermediate and final nuclei participant in the decays can be described simultaneously by changing the value of the axial-vector coupling constant gA. In spite of the very different responses to single and 2νββ decays of the considered nuclear systems, the obtained results point consistently to a quenched effective value of gA that is (slightly) different for the single and 2νββ decays.