Models with sterile neutrinos and their phenomenology

• Grant number: 11/20743-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: February 28, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Elementary Particle Physics and Fields
• Principal Investigator: Renata Zukanovich Funchal
• Grantee: Renata Zukanovich Funchal
• Host Investigator: Carlos Alberto Savoy
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Institut de Physique Théorique (IPhT), France

Abstract

Neutrinos with masses of about 1-10 keV are potentially good candidates for Dark Matter in our Universe. There are some proposals in the literature of extensions of the Standard Electroweak Model in which sterile neutrinos with masses of this order are introduced. In those extensions the mass hierarchy in the neutrino sector is an ad-hoc ingredient, in general no explanation is given for such a big mass splitting. We will try to find flavor models that can realize the mass pattern in the sterile sector needed to implement these models. (AU)