A Modern Introduction to Neutrino Physics

Description

A deeper understanding of neutrinos, with the goal to reveal their nature and exact role within particle physics, is at the frontier of current research. This book reviews the field in a concise fashion and highlights the most pressing issues and areas of strongest topical interest. It provides a clear, self-contained, and logical treatment of the fundamental physics aspects, appropriate for graduate students. Starting with the relevant basics of the SM, neutrinos are introduced, and the quantum mechanical effect of oscillations is explained in detail. A strong focus is then set on the phenomenon of lepton number violation, especially in 0nbb decay, as the crucial probe to understand the nature of neutrinos. The role of neutrinos in astrophysics, expected to be of increasing importance for future research, is then described. Finally, models to explain the neutrino properties are outlined. The central theme of the book is the nature of neutrino masses and the above topics will revolve around this issue. PRELIMS.pdf Preface Acknowledgments Author biography Frank Deppisch CH001.pdf Chapter 1 Introduction References CH002.pdf Chapter 2 Neutrinos in the Standard Model 2.1 Beta decays, Pauli and missing energy 2.2 The Standard Model and electroweak physics 2.3 A first look at neutrino masses 2.4 A flavour of symmetry References CH003.pdf Chapter 3 Neutrino oscillations 3.1 Oscillations in vacuum 3.2 Oscillations in a medium 3.3 Oscillation experiments 3.4 Three neutrinos and beyond References CH004.pdf Chapter 4 Lepton flavour violation 4.1 Lepton flavour violating μ decays 4.2 Muon–electron conversion in nuclei 4.3 Lepton flavour violating τ decays 4.4 Effective operator approach References CH005.pdf Chapter 5 Lepton number violation 5.1 A second look at neutrino masses 5.2 Two-neutrino double beta decay 5.3 Neutrinoless double beta decay 5.4 Exotic contributions References CH006.pdf Chapter 6 Neutrinos beyond the Standard Model 6.1 Flavour symmetries 6.2 A third look at neutrino masses 6.3 Detectable heavy neutrinos 6.4 Gauge symmetries beyond the SM References CH007.pdf Chapter 7 Neutrinos in Astrophysics 7.1 The Relic Neutrino Background 7.2 Neutrinos from Extrasolar Sources 7.3 Neutrinos and the Matter–Antimatter Asymmetry References CH008.pdf Chapter 8 Conclusions References