# Neutrino oscillation constraints on neutrinoless double-beta decay

## Abstract

It is shown that, in the framework of the scheme with three-neutrino mixing and a mass hierarchy, the results of neutrino oscillation experiments imply an upper bound of about $`10^2`$ eV for the effective Majorana mass in neutrinoless double-$`\beta `$ decay. The schemes with four massive neutrinos are also briefly discussed.

preprint:     UWThPh-1999-26  DFTT 21/99     

The recent results of the high-precision and high-statistics Super-Kamiokande experiment have confirmed the indications in favor of neutrino oscillations obtained in atmospheric and solar neutrino experiments. Here we will discuss the implications of the results of atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillation experiments for neutrinoless double-$`\beta `$ decay ($`(\beta \beta )_{0\nu }`$) in the framework of the scheme with three neutrinos and a mass hierarchy, that can accommodate atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillations, and in the framework of the schemes with four massive neutrinos that can accommodate also the $`\overline{\nu }_\mu \overline{\nu }_e`$ and $`\nu _\mu \nu _e`$ oscillations observed in the LSND experiment.

The results of atmospheric neutrino experiments can be explained by $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$ oscillations due to the mass-squared difference

$$\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2(18)\times 10^3\mathrm{eV}^2.$$
(1)   
The results of solar neutrino experiments can be explained by $`\nu _e\nu _\mu ,\nu _\tau `$ transitions due to the mass-squared difference

$$\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2(0.510)\times 10^{10}\mathrm{eV}^2\text{(VO)}$$
(2)   
in the case of vacuum oscillations, or

$$\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2(0.41)\times 10^5\mathrm{eV}^2\text{(SMA-MSW)}$$
(3)   
in the case of small mixing angle MSW transitions, or

$$\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2(0.620)\times 10^5\mathrm{eV}^2\text{(LMA-MSW)}$$
(4)   
in the case of large mixing angle MSW transitions. Hence, atmospheric and solar neutrino data indicate a hierarchy of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$’s: $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2`$. A natural scheme that can accommodate this hierarchy is the one with three neutrinos and a mass hierarchy $`m_1m_2m_3`$, that is predicted by the see-saw mechanism. In this case we have

$$\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2=\mathrm{\Delta }m_{21}^2m_2^2,\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2=\mathrm{\Delta }m_{31}^2m_3^2.$$
(5)   
In the spirit of the see-saw mechanism, we presume that massive neutrinos are Majorana particles and $`(\beta \beta )_{0\nu }`$-decay is allowed. The matrix element of $`(\beta \beta )_{0\nu }`$ decay is proportional to the effective Majorana neutrino mass

$$|m|=\left|\underset{k}{}U_{ek}^2m_k\right|,$$
(6)   
where $`U`$ is the mixing matrix that connects the flavor neutrino fields $`\nu _{\alpha L}`$ ($`\alpha =e,\mu ,\tau `$) to the fields $`\nu _{kL}`$ of neutrinos with masses $`m_k`$ through the relation $`\nu _{\alpha L}=_kU_{\alpha k}\nu _{kL}`$. The present experimental upper limit for $`|m|`$ is 0.2 eV at 90% CL. The next generation of $`(\beta \beta )_{0\nu }`$ decay experiments is expected to be sensitive to values of $`|m|`$ in the range $`10^210^1`$ eV.

Since the results of neutrino oscillation experiments allow to constraint only the moduli of the elements $`U_{ek}`$ of the neutrino mixing matrix, let us consider the upper bound

$$|m|\underset{k}{}|U_{ek}|^2m_k|m|_{\mathrm{UB}}.$$
(7)   
In the framework of the scheme with three neutrinos and a mass hierarchy, the contribution of $`m_1`$ to $`|m|_{\mathrm{UB}}`$ is negligible and the contributions of $`m_2`$ and $`m_3`$ are given, respectively, by

$`|m|_{\mathrm{UB2}}|U_{e2}|^2m_2|U_{e2}|^2\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2}`$ (8)   
$`|m|_{\mathrm{UB3}}|U_{e3}|^2m_3|U_{e3}|^2\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2}.`$ (9)   
The parameter $`|U_{e2}|^2`$ is large in the case of solar vacuum oscillations, is smaller than $`1/2`$ in the case of large mixing angle MSW transitions and is very small ($`|U_{e2}|^22\times 10^3`$) in the case of small mixing angle MSW transitions. Taking into account the respective ranges of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2`$ in Eqs.(2)–(4), we have

$$|m|_{\mathrm{UB2}}\{\begin{array}{ccc}3\times 10^5\mathrm{eV}\hfill & & \text{(VO)},\hfill \\ 6\times 10^6\mathrm{eV}\hfill & & \text{(SMA-MSW)},\hfill \\ 7\times 10^3\mathrm{eV}\hfill & & \text{(LMA-MSW)}.\hfill \end{array}$$
(10)   
Hence, the contribution of $`m_2`$ to the upper bound (7) is small and one expects that the dominant contribution is given by $`m_3\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2}(39)\times 10^2\mathrm{eV}`$. However, as we will show in the following, the value of $`|U_{e3}|^2`$ is constrained by the results of the atmospheric Super-Kamiokande experiment and by the negative results of the long-baseline reactor $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ disappearance experiment CHOOZ.

The two-neutrino exclusion plot obtained in the CHOOZ experiments imply that $`|U_{e3}|^2a_e^{\mathrm{CHOOZ}}`$ or $`|U_{e3}|^21a_e^{\mathrm{CHOOZ}}`$, with $`a_e^{\mathrm{CHOOZ}}=\frac{1}{2}\left(1\sqrt{1\mathrm{sin}^22\vartheta _{\mathrm{CHOOZ}}}\right)`$. Here $`\mathrm{sin}^22\vartheta _{\mathrm{CHOOZ}}`$ is the upper value of the two-neutrino mixing parameter $`\mathrm{sin}^22\vartheta `$ obtained from the CHOOZ exclusion curve as a function of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2=\mathrm{\Delta }m_{31}^2=\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ is the two-neutrino mass-squared difference. Since the quantity $`a_e^{\mathrm{CHOOZ}}`$ is small for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^210^3\mathrm{eV}^2`$, the results of the CHOOZ experiment imply that $`|U_{e3}|^2`$ is either small or close to one. However, since the survival probability of solar $`\nu _e`$’s is bigger than $`|U_{e3}|^4`$, only the range $`|U_{e3}|^2a_e^{\mathrm{CHOOZ}}`$ is allowed by the results of solar neutrino experiments. Therefore, the contribution of $`m_3`$ to $`|m|_{\mathrm{UB}}`$ is bounded by

$$|m|_{\mathrm{UB3}}a_e^{\mathrm{CHOOZ}}\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2}.$$
(11)   
Notice that this limit depends on $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2`$ both explicitly and implicitly through $`a_e^{\mathrm{CHOOZ}}`$.

The bound in the $`|m|_{\mathrm{UB3}}`$$`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2`$ plane obtained from the inequality (11) using the CHOOZ exclusion curve is shown in Fig. 1 by the solid line (the region on the right of this curve is excluded). The dashed straight line in Fig. 1 represents the unitarity bound $`|m|_{\mathrm{UB3}}\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2}`$.

The shadowed and hatched regions in Fig. 1 are allowed by the analysis of the Super-Kamiokande data and the combined analysis of the Super-Kamiokande and CHOOZ data, respectively. One can see that the value of $`|m|_{\mathrm{UB3}}`$ is tightly constrained:

$$|m|_{\mathrm{UB3}}6\times 10^3\mathrm{eV}.$$
(12)   
Therefore, taking into account the inequalities (7), (10) and (12), we conclude that in the scheme with three neutrinos and a mass hierarchy the effective Majorana mass $`|m|`$ in $`(\beta \beta )_{0\nu }`$-decay is bounded by

$$|m|10^2\mathrm{eV}.$$
(13)   
Let us consider now the two schemes with four-neutrino mixing that can accommodate the results of solar and atmospheric neutrino experiments and the results of the accelerator LSND experiment:

$$\text{(A)}\underset{\mathrm{LSND}}{\underset{}{\stackrel{\mathrm{atm}}{\stackrel{}{m_1<m_2}}\stackrel{\mathrm{sun}}{\stackrel{}{m_3<m_4}}}},\text{(B)}\underset{\mathrm{LSND}}{\underset{}{\stackrel{\mathrm{sun}}{\stackrel{}{m_1<m_2}}\stackrel{\mathrm{atm}}{\stackrel{}{m_3<m_4}}}}.$$
(14)   
These two spectra are characterized by the presence of two couples of close masses separated by a gap of about 1 eV which provides the mass-squared difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{LSND}}^2=\mathrm{\Delta }m_{41}^2`$ responsible of the oscillations observed in the LSND experiment. In the scheme A $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2=\mathrm{\Delta }m_{21}^2`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2=\mathrm{\Delta }m_{43}^2`$, whereas in scheme B $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2=\mathrm{\Delta }m_{43}^2`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2=\mathrm{\Delta }m_{21}^2`$.

It has been shown that the results of the short-baseline $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ disappearance experiment Bugey, in which no indication in favor of neutrino oscillations was found, imply that the mixing of $`\nu _e`$ with the two “heavy” neutrinos $`\nu _3`$ and $`\nu _4`$ is large in scheme A and small in scheme B. Therefore, if scheme A is realized in nature the effective Majorana mass in $`(\beta \beta )_{0\nu }`$ decay can be as large as $`m_3m_4\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{LSND}}^2}0.51.2\mathrm{eV}`$. On the other hand, in scheme B $`(\beta \beta )_{0\nu }`$ decay is strongly suppressed. Indeed, the contribution of $`m_2`$ to the upper bound (7) is limited by Eq.(10) and the contribution of $`m_3`$ and $`m_4`$, $`|m|_{\mathrm{UB34}}(|U_{e3}|^2+|U_{e4}|^2)\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{LSND}}^2}`$, is limited by the inequality

$$|m|_{\mathrm{UB34}}a_e^{\mathrm{Bugey}}\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{LSND}}^2},$$
(15)   
where $`a_e^{\mathrm{Bugey}}`$ is given by the exclusion curve of the Bugey experiment. The numerical value of the upper bound (15) is depicted in Fig. 2 by the solid line. The dashed straight line in Fig. 2 represents the unitarity bound $`|m|_{\mathrm{UB34}}\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{LSND}}^2}`$ and the shadowed region indicates the interval of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{LSND}}^2`$ allowed at 90% CL by the results of the LSND experiment: $`0.22\mathrm{eV}^2\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{LSND}}^21.56\mathrm{eV}^2`$. From Fig. 2 one can see that $`|m|_{\mathrm{UB34}}2\times 10^2\mathrm{eV}`$. Therefore, in scheme B we have the upper bound

$$|m|2\times 10^2\mathrm{eV}.$$
(16)   
In conclusion, the results of the analysis of neutrino oscillation data show that the effective Majorana mass $`|m|`$ in neutrinoless double-$`\beta `$ decay is smaller than about $`10^2`$ eV in the scheme with mixing of three neutrinos and a mass hierarchy, is smaller than about $`2\times 10^2`$ eV in the four-neutrino mixing scheme B, whereas it can be as large as $`\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{LSND}}^2}0.51.2\mathrm{eV}`$ in the four-neutrino mixing scheme A.