Neutrinoless double beta decay

Abstract

The status of the search for neutrinoless double beta decay is reviewed. The effort to reach the sensitivity needed to cover the effective Majorana neutrino mass corresponding to the degenerate and inverted mass hierarchy is described. Various issues concerning the theory (and phenomenology) of the relation between the $0\nu \beta \beta$ decay rate and the absolute neutrino mass scale are discussed, in particular the issue of mechanism of the $0\nu \beta \beta$ decay. Finally, the relation between the neutrino magnetic moments and the charge conjugation property (Dirac vs. Majorana) is described.

Comments: Lecture notes at TASI2006, Boulder, CO, June 2006; to be published in proceedings