Münster 2011 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 53: Astroteilchenphysik III

HK 53.4: Talk

Thursday, March 24, 2011, 15:15–15:30, HS3

Lepton Number Violating New Physics and Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay — •Michael Duerr¹, Manfred Lindner¹, and Alexander Merle^1,2 — ¹Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany — ²Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden

Neutrinoless double beta decay is a very sensitive experimental probe for lepton number violating (Δ L = 2) physics beyond the Standard Model. Whatever the new physics mechanism is that triggers the decay, according to the well known Schechter-Valle (or Black Box) theorem, it will induce a Majorana mass term for neutrinos. Neutrinoless double beta decay is therefore the only known possibility to ascertain in the foreseeable future whether the neutrino is a Dirac or a Majorana particle. We discuss the relation between various lepton number violating operators, Majorana neutrino masses, and future experiments.