An Overview of Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay

Neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ) is a hypothetical rare nuclear decay whose discovery would demonstrate that the neutrino is a Majorana particle, meaning it is its own anti-particle. Observation of 0νββ would have important implications for our understanding of neutrino mass, and the source of asymmetry between matter and anti-matter in the universe. A broad research program is searching for 0νββ in multiple isotopes, with current best limits on the half-life of the decay exceeding 10²⁶ y. The next generation of experiments aims for a discovery potential beyond 10²⁸ y, which will require ton-scale detectors to operate for ten years in a background-free environment. I will present an overview of 0νββ and the next-generation experiments aiming to detect it.