Half-life Expectations for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay in Standard and Non-Standard Scenarios

TL;DR

This paper analyzes expected half-lives for neutrinoless double beta decay across various theoretical models, incorporating neutrino data and nuclear physics, to assess future experimental discovery potential.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive statistical framework for predicting decay half-lives in standard and non-standard neutrino scenarios, including sterile neutrinos and left-right symmetric models.

Findings

Half-life predictions vary significantly across models.

Normal and inverted mass orderings show different decay prospects.

Future experiments have varying discovery potentials depending on the scenario.

Abstract

We investigate the half-life expectations for neutrinoless double beta decay by applying statistical distributions of neutrino mixing observables, neutrino mass constraints from cosmology and nuclear matrix elements. The analysis is performed in the standard scenario of active Majorana neutrino exchange, when light sterile neutrinos are added, and within TeV-scale left-right symmetric frameworks. The latter two cases correspond to a modified phenomenology of double beta decay for a normal and inverted mass ordering, and thus different discovery potential for future experiments.