Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay and Physics Beyond the Standard Model

TL;DR

This paper reviews how neutrinoless double beta decay can reveal physics beyond the Standard Model, including lepton number violation and new mechanisms, and discusses experimental strategies to distinguish these models.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of theoretical models, parametrizations, and experimental approaches related to neutrinoless double beta decay beyond existing literature.

Findings

Neutrinoless double beta decay probes Majorana neutrino masses and lepton number violation.

Different new physics models can induce double beta decay through various mechanisms.

Strategies to discriminate among models in future experiments are discussed.

Abstract

Neutrinoless double beta decay is the most powerful tool to probe not only for Majorana neutrino masses but for lepton number violating physics in general. We discuss relations between lepton number violation, double beta decay and neutrino mass, review a general Lorentz invariant parametrization of the double beta decay rate, highlight a number of different new physics models showing how different mechanisms can trigger double beta decay, and finally discuss possibilities to discriminate and test these models and mechanisms in complementary experiments.