Interference Between Light And Heavy Neutrinos For Ov Beta Beta Decay In The Left-Right Symmetric Model

Neutrinoless double-beta decay is proposed as an impoitant low energy phenomenon that could test beyond the Standard Model physics. There are several potentially competing beyond the Standard Model mechanisms that can induce the process. It thus becomes important to disentangle the different processes. In the present study we consider the interference effect between the light left-handed and heavy right-handed Majorana neutrino exchange mechanisms. The decay rate, and consequently, the phase-space factors for the interference term are derived, based on the left-right symmetric model. The numerical values for the interference phase-space factors for several nuclides are calculated, taking into consideration the relativistic Coulomb distortion of the electron wave function and finite-size of the nucleus. The variation of the interference effect with the Q-value of the process is studied. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.