New contributions to neutrinoless double-beta decay in supersymmetric theories

Abstract

In supersymmetric theories with R-parity violation, there are new contributions to neutrinoless double-beta [(\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremath{\beta}${)}_{0\ensuremath{\nu}}$] decay that do not involve the exchange of Majorana neutrinos. Experimental information on (\ensuremath{\beta}\ensuremath{\beta}${)}_{0\ensuremath{\nu}}$ decay can therefore be used to constrain parameters of supersymmetric theories. We also discuss neutrino mass in these theories. We then discuss how R-parity-violating interactions can be induced in the low-energy sector of a theory that respects R-parity conservation prior to symmetry breaking.