Abstract: We study the radiative decay properties of the charmoniumlike X, Y, and Z mesons generated dynamically from vector-meson-vector-meson interaction in the framework of a unitarized hidden-gauge formalism. In the present work, we calculate the one-and two-photon decay widths of the hidden-charm Y(3940), Z(3930) [or X(3915)], and X(4160) mesons in the framework of the vector-meson dominance formalism. We obtain good agreement with the experiment in case of the two-photon width of the X(3915), which we associate to the 2(+) resonance that we find at 3922 MeV. However, in view of discrepancies with a different approach that also considers the resonances as molecular states, we urge independent calculations along the same lines to further clarify the issue.

Abstract: The search for neutrinoless double beta decay is a very active field in which the number of proposals for next-generation experiments has proliferated. In this paper we attempt to address both the sense and the sensitivity of such proposals. Sensitivity comes first, by means of proposing a simple and unambiguous statistical recipe to derive the sensitivity to a putative Majorana neutrino mass, m(beta beta). In order to make sense of how the different experimental approaches compare, we apply this recipe to a selection of proposals, comparing the resulting sensitivities. We also propose a “physics-motivated range” (PMR) of the nuclear matrix elements as a unifying criterium between the different nuclear models. The expected performance of the proposals is parametrized in terms of only four numbers: energy resolution, background rate (per unit time, isotope mass and energy), detection efficiency, and beta beta isotope mass. For each proposal, both a reference and an optimistic scenario for the experimental performance are studied. In the reference scenario we find that all the proposals will be able to partially explore the degenerate spectrum, without fully covering it, although four of them (KamLAND-Zen, CUORE, NEXT and EXO) will approach the 50 meV boundary. In the optimistic scenario, we find that CUORE and the xenon-based proposals (KamLAND-Zen, EXO and NEXT) will explore a significant fraction of the inverse hierarchy, with NEXT covering it almost fully. For the long term future, we argue that Xe-136-based experiments may provide the best case for a 1-ton scale experiment, given the potentially very low backgrounds achievable and the expected scalability to large isotope masses.

Abstract: We perform a calculation for the three-body N (K) over barK scattering amplitude by using the fixed-center approximation to the Faddeev equations, taking the interaction between N and (K) over bar, N and K, and (K) over bar and K from the chiral unitary approach. The resonant structures show up in the modulus squared of the three-body scattering amplitude and suggest that a N (K) over barK hadron state can be formed. Our results are in agreement with others obtained in previous theoretical works, which claim a new N* resonance around 1920 MeV with spin-parity J(P) = 1/2(+). The existence of these previous works allows us to test the accuracy of the fixed center approximation in the present problem and sets the grounds for possible application in similar problems, as an explorative tool to determine bound or quasibound three-hadron systems.