Where two
electrons collide to form two
W bosons and the majoron J. The U(1)B–L symmetry is assumed to be global so that the majoron is not "eaten up"[clarification needed] by the gauge boson and spontaneously broken. Majorons were originally formulated in four
dimensions by
Y. Chikashige,
R. N. Mohapatra and
R. D. Peccei to understand neutrino masses by the
seesaw mechanism and are being searched for in the neutrino-less
double beta decay process. The name majoron was suggested by
Graciela Gelmini as a derivative of the last name Majorana with the suffix -on typical of particle names like electron, proton, neutron, etc. There are theoretical extensions of this idea into
supersymmetric theories and theories involving extra compactified dimensions. By propagating through the extra
spatial dimensions the detectable number of majoron creation events vary accordingly. Mathematically, majorons may be modeled by allowing them to propagate through a material while all other
Standard Modelforces are fixed to an
orbifold point.
Searches
Experiments studying double beta decay have set limits on decay modes that emit majorons.