Physics
Scientific paper
Apr 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001aps..apr.j2003v&link_type=abstract
American Physical Society, April Meeting, April 28 - May 1, 2001 Washington, DC Bulletin of the American Physical Society, Vol.
Physics
Scientific paper
The observations of neutrino oscillations reported in this session imply that neutrinos are massive particles. However, from the oscillation experiments one cannot deduce the mass magnitudes, only mass differences. Hence, direct determination of the mass of at least one neutrino acquires added significance. In the talk I will briefly review two direct methods. The study of the spectrum shape of the tritium beta decay constraints the mass of the electron neutrino, presently to <= 3 eV. Detection of the neutrino signal of a future galactic supernova will constrain neutrino masses by the time-of-flight method. Neither of these methods, unfortunately, can be extended to the sub eV region in a foreseeable future. If neutrinos are massive Majorana particles, as most theories assume, neutrinoless double beta decay will occur, with a rate proportional to the square of the effective neutrino mass. Based on the neutrino oscillation data, I will estimate the rate of the neutrinoless ββ decay, and argue that its observation, while extremely challenging, might be within reach. I will review the existing proposals to extend the sensitivity of the ββ decay experiments to the necessary ~ 50 meV range. If the neutrinoless ββ decay would be observed, the absolute magnitudes of all neutrino masses will be fixed by combining the effective Majorana mass with the mass differences obtained in the oscillation searches.
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