LAUSR

Abstract To quantitatively assess the impact of an eV-mass sterile neutrino on the neutrinoless double-beta ( 0 ν β β ) decays, we calculate the posterior probability distribution of the relevant effective neutrino mass | m e e ′ | in the (3+1) ν mixing scenario, following the Bayesian statistical approach. The latest global-fit analysis of neutrino oscillation data, the cosmological bound on the sum of three active neutrino masses from Planck , and the constraints from current 0 ν β β decay experiments are taken into account in our calculations. Based on the resultant posterior distributions, we find that the average value of the effective neutrino mass is shifted from | m e e | ‾ = 3.37 × 10 − 3 eV (or 7.71 × 10 − 3 eV ) in the standard 3 ν mixing scenario to | m e e ′ | ‾ = 2.54 × 10 − 2 eV (or 2.56 × 10 − 2 eV ) in the (3+1) ν mixing scenario, with the logarithmically uniform prior on the lightest neutrino mass (or on the sum of three active neutrino masses). Therefore, a null signal from the future 0 ν β β decay experiment with a sensitivity to | m e e | ≈ O ( 10 − 2 ) eV will be able to set a very stringent constraint on the sterile neutrino mass and the active-sterile mixing angle.