petergreat said:As I understand, the answer will have to come from neutrino-less double beta decay experiments. When will these experiments reach the required sensitivity and gather enough data, to provide us with a definite answer about the nature of neutrinos?
Majorana fermions are hypothetical particles that are their own antiparticles, meaning they have the same mass and spin as their antiparticles. They were first proposed by Italian physicist Ettore Majorana in 1937.
Neutrinos are electrically neutral, weakly interacting particles that have a very small mass. It is possible that neutrinos could be Majorana fermions, meaning they are their own antiparticles. This would have significant implications for our understanding of particle physics.
If neutrinos are indeed Majorana fermions, it would provide evidence for the existence of physics beyond the Standard Model. It would also have implications for the origin of matter in the universe and could potentially lead to new technologies.
One method is through neutrinoless double beta decay experiments, which look for a rare type of radioactive decay that would only occur if neutrinos are Majorana fermions. Another approach is through studying the properties of neutrinos in high-energy particle accelerators.
While there have been some promising results from experiments, there is currently no definitive answer. It will require more data and evidence from multiple experiments to confirm whether neutrinos are indeed Majorana fermions. This is an ongoing area of research in particle physics.