Falsifying Baryogenesis with Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

Abstract

We discuss the relation between lepton number violation at high and low energies, particularly, the constraints on baryogenesis models, which would be implied by an observation of neutrinoless double beta decay. The primordial baryon asymmetry can be washed out by effective lepton number violating operators triggering neutrinoless double beta decay in combination with sphaleron processes. A generic conclusion is that popular models of baryogenesis are excluded if a non-standard mechanism of neutrinoless double beta decay, i.e., other than the standard light neutrino exchange, is observed. Apart from the effective field approach, we also outline the possible extension of our arguments to a general UV-completed model.