Neutrinoless double-beta decay, which is a very old and yet elusive process, is reviewed. Its observation will signal that the lepton number is not conserved and that the neutrinos are Majorana particles. More importantly it is our best hope for determining the absolute neutrino-mass scale at the level of a few tens of meV. To achieve the last goal certain hurdles must be overcome involving particle, nuclear and experimental physics. Nuclear physics is important for extracting useful information from the data. One must accurately evaluate the relevant nuclear matrix elements--a formidable task. To this end, we review the sophisticated nuclear structure approaches which have recently been developed, and which give confidence that the required nuclear matrix elements can be reliably calculated employing different methods: (a) the various versions of the quasiparticle random phase approximations, (b) the interacting boson model, (c) the energy density functional method and (d) the large basis interacting shell model. It is encouraging that, for the light neutrino-mass term at least, these vastly different approaches now give comparable results. From an experimental point of view it is challenging, since the life times are long and one has to fight against formidable backgrounds. One needs large isotopically enriched sources and detectors with high-energy resolution, low thresholds and very low background. If a signal is found, it will be a tremendous accomplishment. The real task then, of course, will be the extraction of the neutrino mass from the observations. This is not trivial, since current particle models predict the presence of many mechanisms other than the neutrino mass, which may contribute to or even dominate this process. In particular, we will consider the following processes: The neutrino induced, but neutrino-mass independent contribution. Heavy left and/or right-handed neutrino-mass contributions. Intermediate scalars (doubly charged, etc). Supersymmetric (SUSY) contributions. We will show that it is possible to disentangle the various mechanisms and unambiguously extract the important neutrino-mass scale, if all the signatures of the reaction are searched for in a sufficient number of nuclear isotopes.

/pdf/theory-of-neutrinoless-double-beta-decay-2c6bzk0uf6.pdf

Theory of neutrinoless double-beta decay.

Neutrinoless double-beta decay is a forbidden, lepton-number-violating nuclear transition whose observation would have fundamental implications for neutrino physics, theories beyond the Standard Model, and cosmology. In this review, we summarize the theoretical progress to understand this process, the expectations and implications under various particle physics models, and the nuclear physics challenges that affect the precise predictions of the decay half-life. We also provide a synopsis of the current and future large-scale experiments that aim to discover this process in physically well-motivated half-life ranges.

/pdf/neutrinoless-double-beta-decay-status-and-prospects-3skq8iqade.pdf

Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay: Status and Prospects

A complete and improved calculation of phase-space factors for $2\ensuremath{\nu}\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremath{\beta}$ and $0\ensuremath{\nu}\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremath{\beta}$ decay is presented. The calculation makes use of exact Dirac wave functions with finite nuclear size and electron screening and includes lifetimes, single and summed electron spectra, and angular electron correlations.

Phase-space factors for double- β decay

The XENON100 dark matter experiment

Background: Direct determination of the neutrino mass through double-$\ensuremath{\beta}$ decay is at the present time one of the most important areas of experimental and theoretical research in nuclear and particle physicsPurpose: We calculate nuclear matrix elements for the extraction of the average neutrino mass in neutrinoless double-$\ensuremath{\beta}$ decayMethods: The microscopic interacting boson model (IBM-2) is usedResults: Nuclear matrix elements in the closure approximation are calculated for ${}^{48}$Ca, ${}^{76}$Ge, ${}^{82}$Se, ${}^{96}$Zr, ${}^{100}$Mo, ${}^{110}$Pd, ${}^{116}$Cd, ${}^{124}$Sn, ${}^{128}$Te, ${}^{130}$Te, ${}^{148}$Nd, ${}^{150}$Nd, ${}^{154}$Sm, ${}^{160}$Gd, and ${}^{198}$Pt decayConclusions: Realistic predictions for the expected half-lives in neutrinoless double-$\ensuremath{\beta}$ decay with light and heavy neutrino exchange in terms of neutrino masses are made and limits are set from current experiments

Nuclear matrix elements for double- β decay

We report the observation of two-neutrino double-beta decay in ^(136)Xe with T_(1/2)=2.11±0.04(stat)±0.21(syst)×10^(21)  yr. This second-order process, predicted by the standard model, has been observed for several nuclei but not for ^(136)Xe. The observed decay rate provides new input to matrix element calculations and to the search for the more interesting neutrinoless double-beta decay, the most sensitive probe for the existence of Majorana particles and the measurement of the neutrino mass scale.

Observation of two-neutrino double-beta decay in 136Xe with the EXO-200 detector.

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Observation of two-neutrino double-beta decay in 136Xe with the EXO-200 detector.