2009/07/17 by Zhi‐zhong Xing, Zhi-zhong Xing · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Neutrino Physics Research #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2009.07.040
published as Phys.Lett.B679:255-259,2009 · RevTeX 12 pages, 1 PS figure. Accepted for publication in PLB
arxiv created 2009/07/17 · openalex publication_date 2009/07/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
In the type-I seesaw mechanism, both the light Majorana neutrinos (ν1,ν2,ν3) and the heavy Majorana neutrinos (N1,…,Nn) can mediate the neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decay. We point out that the contribution of νi to this 0νββ process is also dependent on the masses Mk and the mixing parameters Rek of Nk as a direct consequence of the exact seesaw relation, and the effective mass term of νi is in most cases dominant over that of Ni. We obtain a new bound |∑Rek2Mk|<0.23 eV (or <0.85 eV as a more conservative limit) at the 2σ level, which is much stronger than |∑Rek2Mk−1|<5×10−8 GeV−1 used in some literature, from current experimental constraints on the 0νββ decay. Taking the minimal type-I seesaw scenario for example, we illustrate the possibility of determining or constraining two heavy Majorana neutrino masses by using more accurate low-energy data on lepton number violation and non-unitarity of neutrino mixing.