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 (0 nu beta beta) 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 0 nu beta beta 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 0 nu beta beta decay.