Abstract
In the standard model of particle physics there are three species of neutrinos whose masses were originally assumed to be zero. But the discovery of solar and atmospheric neutrino oscillations indicates that neutrinos are massive and lepton flavors are mixed. In this brief review we first give an overview of our current knowledge about the neutrino mass spectrum and lepton flavor mixing angles, and then comment on the seesaw mechanisms which allow us to understand the origin of tiny neutrino masses. We pay particular attention to the nearly tri-bi-maximal neutrino mixing pattern and the Friedberg-Lee symmetry to derive it. A relatively promising possibility of detecting hot and warm neutrino dark matter in the Universe will also be discussed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Nakamura K, Particle Data Group. The review of particle physics. J Phys G, 2010, 37: 075021
Xing Z Z. Nearly tri-bi-maximal neutrino mixing and CP violation. Phys Lett B, 2002, 533: 85–93
Schwetz T, Tortola M, Valle J W F. Global neutrino data and recent reactor fluxes: status of three-flavor oscillation parameters. arXiv: 1103.0734
Xing Z Z, Zhang H, Zhou S. Updated values of running quark and lepton masses. Phys Rev D, 2008, 77: 113016
Li Y F, Xing Z Z. Possible capture of keV sterile neutrino dark matter on radioactive β-decaying nuclei. Phys Lett B, 2011, 695: 205–210
Fritzsch H, Xing Z Z. Mass and flavor mixing schemes of quarks and leptons. Prog Part Nucl Phys, 2000, 45: 1–81
Xing Z Z. Naturalness and testability of TeV seesaw mechanisms. Prog Theor Phys Suppl, 2009, 180: 112–127
Minkowski P. µ→eγ at a rate of one out of one billion muon decays? Phys Lett B, 1977, 67: 421–428
Mohapatra R N, Senjanovic G. Neutrino mass and spontaneous parity violation. Phys Rev Lett, 1980, 44: 912–915
Konetschny W, Kummer W. Nonconservation of total lepton number with scalar bosons. Phys Lett B, 1977, 70: 433–435
Magg M, Wetterich C. Neutrino mass problem and gauge hierarchy. Phys Lett B, 1980, 94: 61–64
Schechter J, Valle J W F. Neutrino masses in SU(2)×U(1) theories. Phys Rev D, 1980, 22: 2227–2235
Cheng T P, Li L F. Neutrino masses, mixings and oscillations in SU(2)×U(1) models of electroweak interactions. Phys Rev D, 1980, 22: 2860–2868
Foot R, Lew H, He X G, et al. Seesaw neutrino masses induced by a triplet of leptons. Z Phys C, 1989, 44: 441–444
Guo X, Daya Bay Collaboration. A precision measurement of the neutrino mixing angle θ 13 using reactor antineutrinos at Daya Bay. arXiv: hep-ex/0701029
Fogli G L, Lisi E, Marrone A, et al. Hints of θ 13>0 from global neutrino data analysis. Phys Rev Lett, 2008, 101: 141801
Gonzalez-Garcia M C, Maltoni M, Salvado J. Updated global fit to three neutrino mixing: Status of the hints of θ 13>0. JHEP, 2010, 1004: 056
Gando A, Gando Y, Ichimura K, et al. Constraints on θ 13 from a three-flavor oscillation analysis of reactor antineutrinos at KamLAND. Phys Rev D, 2011, 83: 052002
Mezzetto M, Schwetz T. θ 13: Phenomenology, present status and prospect. J Phys G, 2010, 37: 103001
Fritzsch H, Xing Z Z. Lepton mass hierarchy and neutrino oscillations. Phys Lett B, 1996, 372: 265–270
Fritzsch H, Xing Z Z. Large leptonic flavor mixing and the mass spectrum of leptons. Phys Lett B, 1998, 440: 313–318
Fritzsch H, Xing Z Z. Maximal neutrino mixing and maximal CP violation. Phys Rev D, 2000, 61: 073016
Harrison P F, Perkins D H, Scott W G. Tri-bi-maximal mixing and the neutrino oscillation data. Phys Lett B, 2002, 530: 167–173
Ishimor H, Kobayashi T, Ohki H, et al. Non-Abelian discrete symmetries in particle physics. Prog Theor Phys Suppl, 2010, 183: 1–163
Merlo L. Phenomenology of discrete flavor symmetries. arXiv: 1004.2211
Ma E, Rajasekaran G. Softly broken A(4) symmetry for nearly degenerate neutrino masses. Phys Rev D, 2001, 64: 113012
Altarelli G, Feruglio F. Tri-bi-maximal neutrino mixing from discrete symmetry in extra dimensions. Nucl Phys B, 2005, 720: 64–88
Babu K S, He X G. Model of geometric neutrino mixing. arXiv: hep-ph/0507217
Friedberg R, Lee T D. A possible relation between the neutrino mass matrix and the neutrino mapping matrix. High Energy Phys Nucl Phys, 2006, 30: 591–598
Friedberg R, Lee T D. Hidden symmetry of the CKM and neutrino mapping matrices. Annals Phys, 2008, 323: 1087–1105
Xing Z Z, Zhang H, Zhou S. Nearly tri-bi-maximal neutrino mixing and CP violation from μ-τ symmetry breaking. Phys Lett B, 2006, 641: 189–197
Luo S, Xing Z Z. Friedberg-Lee symmetry breaking and its predictions for θ 13. Phys Lett B, 2007, 646: 242–247
Jarlskog C. Neutrino sector with Majorana mass terms and Friedberg-Lee symmetry. Phys Rev D, 2008, 77: 073002
Chan A H, Low H B, Xing Z Z. Friedberg-Lee symmetry and tri-bi-maximal neutrino mixing in the inverse seesaw mechanism. Phys Rev D, 2009, 80: 073006
Araki T, Geng C Q, Xing Z Z. Finite quantum corrections to the tri-bi-maximal neutrino mixing. arXiv: 1012.2970
Mei J W, Xing Z Z. Radiative generation of θ 13 with the seesaw threshold effect. Phys Rev D, 2004, 70: 053002
Luo S, Xing Z Z. Generalized tri-bi-maximal neutrino mixing and its sensitivity to radiative corrections. Phys Lett B, 2006, 632: 341–348
Xing Z Z. A shift from democratic to tri-bi-maximal neutrino mixing with relatively large θ 13. Phys Lett B, 2011, 696: 232–236
Casas J A, Espinosa J R, Ibarra A, et al. General RG equations for physical neutrino parameters and their phenomenological implications. Nucl Phys B, 2000, 573: 652–684
Antusch S, Kersten J, Lindner M, et al. Running neutrino masses, mixings and CP phases: Analytical results and phenomenological consequences. Nucl Phys B, 2003, 674: 401–433
Luo S, Mei J W, Xing Z Z. Radiative generation of leptonic CP violation. Phys Rev D, 2005, 72: 053014
Xing Z Z. A novel parametrization of tau-lepton dominance and simplified one-loop renormalization-group equations of neutrino mixing angles and CP-violating phases. Phys Lett B, 2006, 633: 550–556
Kusenko A. Sterile neutrinos: The dark side of the light fermions. Phys Rept, 2009, 481: 1–28
Boyarsky A, Ruchayskiy O, Shaposhnikov M. The role of sterile neutrinos in cosmology and astrophysics. Ann Rev Nucl Part Sci, 2009, 59: 191–214
Loewenstein K, Kusenko A. Dark matter search using Chandra observations of Willman 1, and a spectral feature consistent with a decay line of a 5 keV sterile neutrino. Astrophys J, 2010, 714: 652–662
Prokhorov D A, Silk J. Can the excess in the FeXXVI Ly gamma line from the Galactic Center provide evidence for 17 keV sterile neutrinos? arXiv: 1001.0215
Chan M H, Chu M C. Observational evidences for the existences of 17.4 keV decaying degenerate sterile neutrinos near the Galactic Center. arXiv: 1009.5872
Ringwald A. Prospects for the direct detection of the cosmic neutrino background. Nucl Phys A, 2009, 827: 501c–506c
Weinberg S. Universal neutrino degeneracy. Phys Rev D, 1962, 128: 1457–1473
Irvine J M, Humphreys R. Neutrino masses and the cosmic neutrino background. J Phys G, 1983, 9: 847–852
Cocco A G, Mangano G, Messina M. Probing low energy neutrino backgrounds with neutrino capture on beta decaying nuclei. JCAP, 2007, 0706: 015
Lazauskas R, Vogel P, Volpe C. Charged current cross section for massive cosmological neutrinos impinging on radioactive nuclei. J Phys G, 2008, 35: 025001
Li Y F, Xing Z Z, Luo S. Direct detection of the cosmic neutrino background including light sterile neutrinos. Phys Lett B, 2010, 692: 261–267
Blennow M. Prospects for cosmic neutrino detection in tritium experiments in the case of hierarchical neutrino masses. Phys Rev D, 2008, 77: 113014
Hamann J, Hannestad S, Raffelt G G, et al. Cosmology favoring extra radiation and sub-eV mass sterile neutrinos as an option. Phys Rev Lett, 2010, 105: 181301
Giusarma E, Corsi M, Archidiacono M, et al. Constraints on massive sterile neutrino species from current and future cosmological data. arXiv: 1102.4774
Cocco A G, Mangano G, Messina M. Low energy antineutrino detection using neutrino capture on EC decaying nuclei. Phys Rev D, 2009, 79: 053009
Lusignoli M, Vignati M. Relic antineutrino capture on 163-Ho decaying nuclei. Phys Lett B, 2011, 697: 11–14
Li Y F, Xing Z Z. A possible detection of the cosmic antineutrino background in the presence of flavor effects. Phys Lett B, 2011, 698: 430–437
Li Y F, Xing Z Z. Captures of hot and warm sterile antineutrino dark matter on EC-decaying 163-Ho nuclei. arXiv: 1104.4000
Liao W. keV scale right-handed neutrino dark matter and its detection in beta decay experiment. Phys Rev D, 2010, 82: 073001
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Rights and permissions
This article is published under an open access license. Please check the 'Copyright Information' section either on this page or in the PDF for details of this license and what re-use is permitted. If your intended use exceeds what is permitted by the license or if you are unable to locate the licence and re-use information, please contact the Rights and Permissions team.
About this article
Cite this article
Xing, Zz. Neutrino mass hierarchy and lepton flavor mixing. Chin. Sci. Bull. 56, 2594–2599 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-011-4612-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-011-4612-y