arXiv · hep-ph/9711400
Neutrino oscillation constraints on neutrinoless double beta decay
Abstract
We have studied the constraints imposed by the results of neutrino oscillation experiments on the effective Majorana mass | | that characterizes the contribution of Majorana neutrino masses to the matrix element of neutrinoless double-beta decay. We have shown that in a general scheme with three Majorana neutrinos and a hierarchy of neutrino masses (which can be explained by the see-saw mechanism), the results of neutrino oscillation experiments imply rather strong constraints on the parameter | |. From the results of the first reactor long-baseline experiment CHOOZ and the Bugey experiment it follows that | | < 3x10^{-2} eV if the largest mass-squared difference is smaller than 2 eV^2. Hence, we conclude that the observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay with a probability that corresponds to | | > 10^{-1} eV would be a signal for a non-hierarchical neutrino mass spectrum and/or non-standard mechanisms of lepton number violation.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Explore connections, maps & timelines
S. M. Bilenky, C. Giunti, C. W. Kim, M. Monteno. 1997-11-20. Neutrino oscillation constraints on neutrinoless double beta decay. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.57.6981
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.