Abstract:
Neutrinos are the only known elementary
particles that are Majorana fermion candidates, implying that they would
be their own antiparticles. The most sensitive and perhaps only
practical probe of the Majorana nature of neutrinos is an extremely rare
nuclear decay process, the double beta decay without the emission of
neutrinos. After an introduction to the physics of neutrinoless double
beta decay, I will present the main experimental techniques to search
for this exceedingly rare process. I will show the latest results from
leading experiments in the field, then discuss future projects and their
prospects to probe the inverted neutrino mass ordering scenario.