Neutrinoless double beta decay in left-right symmetric models with a universal seesaw mechanism.

We discuss a class of left-right symmetric theories with a universal seesaw mechanism for fermion masses and mixing and the implications for neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay where neutrino masses are governed by natural type-II seesaw dominance. The scalar sector consists of left- and right-handed Higgs doublets and triplets, while the conventional Higgs bidoublet is absent in this scenario. We use the Higgs doublets to implement the left-right and the electroweak symmetry breaking. On the other hand, the Higgs triplets with induced vacuum expectation values can give Majorana masses to light and heavy neutrinos and mediate 0νββ decay. In the absence of the Dirac mass terms for the neutrinos, this framework can naturally realize type-II seesaw dominance even if the right-handed neutrinos have masses of a few TeV. We study the implications of this framework in the context of 0νββ decay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]