Neutrino Mass in Effective Field Theory

Abstract

In this review, the seesaw mechanism for generating the mass of active light neutrinos (both Majorana and Dirac) is considered on the basis of effective field theory. In particular, we review certain models that extend the Standard Model by introducing heavy sterile neutrinos and discuss the corresponding mechanisms for generating small masses of active neutrinos. Two Appendices briefly describe the properties of Weyl, Dirac, and Majorana spinors in four dimensions and the interrelations between such spinors. The third Appendix provides a simple proof of the theorem on Takagi diagonalization of a mass matrix for Majorana fermions.