Short-range correlation effects on the nuclear matrix element of neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decay

Abstract

We report the results of a calculation of the nuclear matrix element of neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decay of ${}^{48}$Ca, carried out taking into account nucleon-nucleon correlations in both coordinate- and spin-space. Our numerical results, obtained using nuclear matter correlation functions, suggest that inclusion of correlations leads to a $\sim$ $20\%$ decrease of the matrix element, with respect to the shell model prediction. This conclusion is supported by the results of an independent calculation, in which correlation effects are taken into account using the spectroscopic factors of ${}^{48}$Ca obtained from an {\em ab intitio} many body approach.