Determining See-Saw Parameters from Weak Scale Measurements?

The see-saw mechanism is a very attractive explanation for small neutrino masses, parametrized at the GUT scale by the right-handed Majorana mass matrix, ${\cal M}$, and the neutrino Yukawa matrix, ${\bf Y_\nu}$. We show that in a SUSY model with universal soft terms, ${\cal M}$ and ${\bf Y_\nu}$ can be calculated from the light neutrino masses, the MNS matrix, and ${\bf Y^{\dagger}_\nu} {\bf Y_\nu}$, which enters into the left-handed slepton radiative corrections. This suggests that in principle the GUT-scale inputs of the seesaw could be reconstructed from the neutrino and sneutrino mass matrices. We briefly discuss why this is impractical, but advocate the neutrino and sneutrino mass matrices as an alternative bottom-up parametrization of the seesaw.Comment: Version to be published. References added, modified abstract, minor stylistic changes. Content unchange

Impact of radiative corrections on sterile neutrino scenarios

In sterile neutrino scenarios, radiative corrections induce mass splittings proportional to the top Yukawa coupling, in contrast to the three active neutrino case where the induced splittings are proportional to the tau Yukawa coupling. In view of this, we have analyzed the stability of the four-neutrino schemes favored by oscillation experiments, consisting in two pairs of nearly degenerate neutrinos separated by the LSND gap. Requiring compatibility with the measurements of the abundances of primordial elements produced in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, we find that when the heaviest pair corresponds to the solar neutrinos (mainly an admixture of nu_e - nu_s) the natural mass splitting is 3-5 orders of magnitude larger than the observed one, discrediting the scenario from a theoretical point of view. On the contrary, the scheme where the heaviest pair corresponds to the atmospheric neutrinos (mainly an admixture of nu_mu - nu_tau) is safe from radiative corrections due to the small sterile component of these mass eigenstates.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX, 2 figures. Discussion enlarged, references added and typos correcte