The effective neutrino mass of neutrinoless double-beta decays: how possible to fall into a well

TL;DR

This paper provides a detailed analytical study of the effective neutrino mass in neutrinoless double-beta decay, identifying a threshold that impacts experimental sensitivity and linking it to neutrino mass and mixing parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a new analytical understanding of the well structure in the effective mass and discovers a novel threshold point related to neutrino parameters.

Findings

Identifies a threshold $|raket{m}_{ee}|_* = m_3 an^2 heta_{13}$ linked to neutrino parameters.

Shows the threshold can indicate the observability of neutrinoless double-beta decay.

Finds the probability of $|raket{m}_{ee}|$ being below the threshold is very small with current data.

Abstract

If massive neutrinos are the Majorana particles and have a normal mass ordering, the effective mass term $\langle m\rangle^{}_{ee}$ of a neutrinoless double-beta ($0\nu 2\beta$) decay may suffer significant cancellations among its three components and thus sink into a decline, resulting in a "well" in the three-dimensional graph of $|\langle m\rangle^{}_{ee}|$ against the smallest neutrino mass $m^{}_1$ and the relevant Majorana phase $\rho$. We present a new and complete analytical understanding of the fine issues inside such a well, and discover a novel threshold of $|\langle m\rangle^{}_{ee}|$ in terms of the neutrino masses and flavor mixing angles: $|\langle m\rangle^{}_{ee}|^{}_* = m^{}_3 \sin^2\theta^{}_{13}$ in connection with $\tan\theta^{}_{12} = \sqrt{m^{}_1/m^{}_2}$ and $\rho =\pi$. This threshold point, which links the {\it local} minimum and maximum of $|\langle m\rangle^{}_{ee}|$, can be used to signify observability or sensitivity of the future $0\nu 2\beta$-decay experiments. Given current neutrino oscillation data, the possibility of $|\langle m\rangle^{}_{ee}| < |\langle m\rangle^{}_{ee}|^{}_*$ is found to be very small.