Lepton Number Violation in TeV Scale See-Saw Extensions of the Standard Model

The low-energy neutrino physics constraints on the TeV scale type I see-saw scenarios of neutrino mass generation are revisited. It is shown that lepton charge (L) violation, associated to the production and decays of heavy Majorana neutrinos N_{j} having masses in the range of M_j \sim (100 \div 1000) GeV and present in such scenarios, is hardly to be observed at ongoing and future particle accelerator experiments, LHC included, because of very strong constraints on the parameters and couplings responsible for the corresponding |\Delta L| = 2 processes. If the heavy Majorana neutrinos N_j are observed and they are associated only with the type I mechanism, they will behave effectively like pseudo-Dirac fermions. Conversely, the observation of effects proving the Majorana nature of N_j would imply that these heavy neutrinos have additional relatively strong couplings to the Standard Model particles or that light neutrino masses compatible with the observations are generated by a mechanism other than see-saw (e.g., radiatively at one or two loop level) in which the heavy Majorana neutrinos N_j are nevertheless involved.Comment: Contribution to the Proceedings of DISCRETE 2010- Symposium on Prospects in the Physics of Discrete Symmetries, 8 page

Supernova Neutrino Oscillations

Observing a high-statistics neutrino signal from a galactic supernova (SN) would allow one to test the standard delayed explosion scenario and may allow one to distinguish between the normal and inverted neutrino mass ordering due to the effects of flavor oscillations in the SN envelope. One may even observe a signature of SN shock-wave propagation in the detailed time-evolution of the neutrino spectra. A clear identification of flavor oscillation effects in a water Cherenkov detector probably requires a megatonne-class experiment.Comment: Proc. 129 Nobel Symposium "Neutrino Physics", 19-24 Aug 2004, Swede

Unity of CP and T Violation in Neutrino Oscillations

In a previous work a simultaneous P- CP[P] and P- T[P] bi-probability plot was proposed as a useful tool for unified graphical description of CP and T violation in neutrino oscillation. The ``baseball diamond'' structure of the plot is understood as a consequence of the approximate CP-CP and the T-CP relations obeyed by the oscillation probabilities. In this paper, we make a step forward toward deeper understanding of the unified graphical representation by showing that these two relations are identical in its content, suggesting a truly unifying view of CP and T violation in neutrino oscillations. We suspect that the unity reflects the underlying CPT theorem. We also present calculation of corrections to the CP-CP and the T-CP relations to leading order in Delta m^2_{21} / Delta m^2_{31} and s^2_{13}.Comment: 20 references added, version to appear in "Focus Issue on Neutrino Physics" of New Journal of Physic

The MSW effect and Matter Effects in Neutrino Oscillations

The MSW (Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein) effect is the adiabatic or partially adiabatic neutrino flavor conversion in medium with varying density. The main notions related to the effect, its dynamics and physical picture are reviewed. The large mixing MSW effect is realized inside the Sun providing the solution of the solar neutrino problem. The small mixing MSW effect driven by the 1-3 mixing can be realized for the supernova (SN) neutrinos. Inside the collapsing stars new elements of the MSW dynamics may show up: the non-oscillatory transition, non-adiabatic conversion, time dependent adiabaticity violation induced by shock waves. Effects of the resonance enhancement and the parametric enhancement of oscillations can be realized for the atmospheric and accelerator neutrinos in the Earth. Precise results for neutrino oscillations in the low density medium with arbitrary density profile are presented and the attenuation effect is described. The area of applications is the solar and SN neutrinos inside the Earth, and the results are crucial for the neutrino oscillation tomography.Comment: 18 pages, latex, 6 figures, talk given at the Nobel Symposium 129, ``Neutrino Physics'', Haga Slott, August 19 - 24, 200

Neutrino Mixing and Nucleosynthesis in Core-Collapse Supernovae

A simple description of core-collapse supernovae is given. Properties of the neutrino-driven wind, neutrino fluxes and luminosities, reaction rates, and the equilibrium electron fraction in supernova environments are discussed. Neutrino mixing and neutrino interactions that are relevant to core-collapse supernovae are briefly reviewed. The values of electron fraction under several evolution scenarios that may impact rapid neutron capture process (r-process) nucleosynthesis are calculated.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure

Leptonic CP Violation and Neutrino Mass Models

We discuss leptonic mixing and CP violation at low and high energies, emphasizing possible connections between leptogenesis and CP violation at low energies, in the context of lepton flavour models. Furthermore we analyse weak basis invariants relevant for leptogenesis and for CP violation at low energies. These invariants have the advantage of providing a simple test of the CP properties of any lepton flavour model.Comment: 26 pages, no figures, submitted to the Focus Issue on `Neutrino Physics` edited by F. Halzen, M. Lindner and A. Suzuki, to be published in New Journal of Physic

Status of global fits to neutrino oscillations

We review the present status of global analyses of neutrino oscillations, taking into account the most recent neutrino data including the latest KamLAND and K2K updates presented at Neutrino2004, as well as state-of-the-art solar and atmospheric neutrino flux calculations. We give the two-neutrino solar + KamLAND results, as well as two-neutrino atmospheric + K2K oscillation regions, discussing in each case the robustness of the oscillation interpretation against departures from the Standard Solar Model and the possible existence of non-standard neutrino physics. Furthermore, we give the best fit values and allowed ranges of the three-flavour oscillation parameters from the current worlds' global neutrino data sample and discuss in detail the status of the small parameters \alpha \equiv \Dms/\Dma as well as $\sin^2\theta_{13}$, which characterize the strength of CP violating effects in neutrino oscillations. We also update the degree of rejection of four-neutrino interpretations of the LSND anomaly in view of the most recent developments.Comment: v6: In the last Appendix we provide updated neutrino oscillation results which take into account the relevant oscillation data released by the MINOS and KamLAND collaboration