On leptogenesis, flavour effects and the low energy neutrino parameters

Abstract

Contemporary physics is testing the boundaries of one of its existent paradigms, the Standard Model of Particle Physics. In recent years many attempts have been made in order to overcome the difficulties arising within this well known framework. Along with the effort made on the experimental side, for example the search for the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider, there is a present requirement for testable theoretical scenarios describing physics beyond the current paradigms. To this purpose we consider the type I Seesaw extension of the Standard Model, in which the neutrino mass puzzle is possibly solved and the baryon asymmetry of the Universe explained via Leptogenesis. After reviewing the basis of the Seesaw mechanism and its recent developments we present a rigorous investigation which confirms the validity of the adopted description. Encouraged by this success we then employ the interplay of light and heavy neutrino flavour effects to address the problem of initial conditions in Leptogenesis. Our analysis identifies the tau N₂-dominated scenario as the only possible answer, proposing a well defined setup in which successful strong thermal Leptogenesis is achieved. Attracted by the properties of our solution we consequently investigate its compatibility with the SO(10)-inspired model of Leptogenesis. The result is indeed intriguing: the strong thermal solutions of the SO(10)-inspired model deliver sharp predictions on the low-energy neutrino parameters that fall within the reach of future neutrino experiments, opening up the possibility of a full test of this attractive Leptogenesis scenario.

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