The search for neutrinoless double beta decay

Understand

In the last two decades the search for neutrinoless double beta decay has evolved into one of the highest priorities for understanding neutrinos and the origin of mass.

• The main reason for this paradigm shift has been the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which clearly established the existence of massive neutrinos.
• An additional motivation for conducting such searches comes from the existence of an unconfirmed, but not refuted, claim of evidence for neutrinoless double decay in $^{76}\text{Ge}$.
• As a consequence, a new generation of experiments, employing different detection techniques and $\beta\beta$ isotopes, is being actively promoted by experimental groups across the world.