Classification of effective neutrino mass operators

We present a classification of SU(3)(C) x SU(2)(L) X U(1)(Y) gauge invariant DeltaL = 2 (L being lepton number) effective operators relevant for generating small Majorana neutrino masses. Operators of dimension up to 11 have been included in our analysis. This approach enables us to systematically identify interesting neutrino mass models. It is shown that many of the well-known models fall into this classification. In addition, a number of new models are proposed and their neutrino phenomenology is outlined. Of particular interest is a large class of models in which neutrinoless double beta decays arise at a lower order compared to the neutrino mass, making these decays accessible to the current round of experiments. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.