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The (96)Mo(d,(2)He)(96)Nb charge-exchange reaction was investigated at an incident energy of E(d)=183.5 MeV. An excitation-energy resolution of 110 keV was achieved. The experiment was performed at KVI, Groningen, using the magnetic spectrometer BBS at three angular positions: 0(degrees),2.5(degrees), and 6(degrees). We found that below 6 MeV almost the entire Gamow-Teller (GT(+)) strength is concentrated in a single state at 0.69 MeV excitation energy. As (96)Mo is the daughter of the beta beta decay nucleus (96)Zr, the present result provides information about the nuclear matrix elements active in the 2 nu beta beta decay of (96)Zr.

The (d,(2)He) charge-exchange reaction on (76)Se was studied at an incident energy of 183 MeV. The outgoing two protons in the (1)S(0) state, referred to as (2)He, were both momentum analyzed and detected by the same spectrometer and detector. The experiment was performed at KVI, Groningen, using the magnetic spectrometer BBS at three angular positions: 0(degrees),2.5(degrees), and 5(degrees). Excitation-energy spectra of the residual nucleus (76)As were obtained with an energy resolution of about 120 keV (FWHM). Gamow-Teller (GT(+)) transition strengths were extracted up to 5 MeV and compared with those from an (n,p) experiment at low resolution. Together with the GT(-) transition strengths from the (76)Ge(p,n) experiment leading to the same intermediate nucleus, the nuclear matrix element of the two-neutrino double-beta decay of (76)Ge was evaluated.

We have used the (d,He-2) reaction to obtain the GT(+) strength distribution for Sn-116 ->In-116 transitions. Here, In-116 is the intermediate nucleus in the second-order perturbative description of Cd-116 double beta (beta beta) decay. In this paper we will review what is known about the nuclear matrix elements for the Cd-116 2 nu beta beta decay, discuss the single-state dominance hypothesis and combine our new data with other existing data from charge-exchange reactions to obtain a 2 nu beta beta-decay half-life. The deduced value T-1/2=(4 +/- 1)x10(19)y compares well with the one known from direct counting experiments.

Cross sections for the charge-exchange reaction (d,He-2) on V-50, the only odd-odd stable nucleus in the pf shell, have been measured at an incident energy of 171 MeV. The two correlated protons of the unbound He-2 system were both momentum analyzed and detected by the same spectrometer and detector. Measurements have been carried out at forward center-of-mass angles up to 6degrees. The GT(+) strength distribution has been extracted up to about 12 MeV of excitation energy. Because charge-exchange reactions from V-50 provide a unique opportunity to probe Gamow-Teller response from an odd-odd nucleus of the pf shell, the present study serves as important test case for model calculations and astrophysical processes that proceed through GT-type transitions. Consequently, the experimental result is compared with a large-scale shell-model calculation, and the implications for electron-capture processes in presupernova environments are discussed.