Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay presently is one of the most exciting reactions. If found to exist, this reaction proves that the neutrino is a Majorana particle, i.e. its own anti-particle. The Majorana nature and the finite mass of the neutrino would open the see-saw mechanism for the explanation of the masses within the standard model of particle physics     
Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay is a very rare process with a half-life of T_1/2>10²⁵ years. Its half-life can be converted into an effective neutrino mass, but the matrix elements for this transition, where two neutrons are converted into two protons, must be calculated. The nuclear structure calculations are rather model dependent.

The International Student Workshop 2010 on Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay intends to familiarize young scientists with the models and theories necessary to derive the effective neutrino mass as well as with basic experimental techniques. The workshop will take place on November 11 - 13, 2010 at the LNGS.

Lectures on basic theoretical concepts and on principal experimental issues will be presented by
J.J. Gomez Cadenas, A. Giuliani, G. Heusser, F. Iachello, A. Poves, S. Schönert, F. Simkovic.
Apart from the lectures and some student presentations, we plan for a visit of the underground facilities and a workshop-dinner.

Some grants supporting travel and accommodation are available for students giving a presentation. There will be no workshop fee.

For technical and logistics issues, please contact our secretary,

Mr. Fausto Chiarizia at LNGS
Tel.: +39 0862 437 437
fausto.chiarizia[at]lngs.infn.it

Ms. Gaby Behring at Tübingen
Tel.: +49 701 29 76297
Fax: +49 701 29 5373
behring[at]pit.physik.uni-tuebingen.de

Scientific questions can be addressed to: