Theory of Neutrino Masses and Mixings

Abstract

Neutrino physics is going through a revolutionary progress. In this talk I review what we have learned and why neutrino mass is so important. Neutrino masses and mixings are already shedding new insight into the origin of flavor. Given the evidences for neutrino mass, leptogenesis is gaining momentum as the origin of cosmic baryon asymmetry. Best of all, we will learn a lot more in the coming years.

Life, the Universe, and everything—42 fundamental questions

“…The discovery of neutrino masses [43,44,45] has definitively taken physics beyond the Standard Model. In each generation of fermions, either an extra field must be added (for a Dirac mass, like that of an electron or quark) or lepton number conservation must be violated (for a Majorana mass, which would mean that a neutrino is its own antiparticle).…”