2007/08/09 by André de Gouvêa, Andre de Gouvea, James Jenkins · 172 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Double beta decay #Gauge (firearms) #Large Hadron Collider #Lepton #Lepton number #Neutrino #Neutrino Physics Research #Neutrino oscillation #Nuclear physics #Particle physics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Physics beyond the Standard Model #Standard Model (mathematical formulation) #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.77.013008
published in Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields 77(1) (American Physical Society) · 34 pages, 10 eps figures, 1 table
arxiv created 2007/08/09 · openalex publication_date 2008/01/30 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We survey 129 lepton number violating effective operators, consistent with the minimal standard model gauge group and particle content, of mass dimension up to and including 11. Upon requiring that each one radiatively generates the observed neutrino masses, we extract an associated characteristic cutoff energy scale which we use to calculate other observable manifestations of these operators for a number of current and future experimental probes, concentrating on lepton number violating phenomena. These include searches for neutrinoless double-beta decay and rare meson, lepton, and gauge boson decays. We also consider searches at hadron/lepton collider facilities in anticipation of the CERN LHC and the future ILC. We find that some operators are already disfavored by current data, while more are ripe to be probed by next-generation experiments. We also find that our current understanding of lepton mixing disfavors a subset of higher dimensional operators. While neutrinoless double-beta decay is the most promising signature of lepton number violation for the majority of operators, a handful is best probed by other means. We argue that a combination of constraints from various independent experimental sources will help to pinpoint the ``correct'' model of neutrino mass, or at least aid in narrowing down the set of possibilities.