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more information - www.cambridge.org/9781107013957
 NEUTRINO COSMOLOGY

The role that neutrinos have played in the evolution of the Universe is one of the
most fascinating research areas that has stemmed from the interplays between cos-
mology, astrophysics and particle physics. In this self-contained book, the authors
bring together all aspects of the role of neutrinos in cosmology, spanning from lep-
togenesis to primordial nucleosynthesis, and from their role in CMB and structure
formation to the problem of their direct detection.
The book starts by guiding the reader through aspects of fundamental neutrino
physics, the standard cosmological model and statistical mechanics in the expand-
ing Universe, before discussing the history of neutrinos in chronological order from
the very early stages until today. This timely book will interest graduate students
and researchers in astrophysics, cosmology and particle physics, who work with
either a theoretical or experimental focus.

julien lesgourgues currently works at EPFL in Lausanne and in the Theory

Division at CERN, Switzerland. His research is focused on cosmology and on
the theoretical interpretation of cosmic microwave background and large scale
structure astrophysical data.
gianpiero mangano is a Senior Researcher in Theoretical Physics at INFN,
Italy. His research interests cover several areas in cosmology, such as primordial
nucleosynthesis and the physics of neutrinos in the early Universe, and cosmolog-
ical aspects of noncommutative spacetimes at the Planck scale.
gennaro miele is Associate Professor in Theoretical Physics at the University
of Naples ‘Federico II’, Italy. His main research interest concerns cosmology, where
he has been working on primordial nucleosynthesis and neutrino cosmology.
sergio pastor is a Researcher in the Instituto de Fı́sica Corpuscular, CSIC –
Universitat de València, Spain. His main research interests include neutrino physics,
in particular the study of their role in astrophysical and cosmological scenarios,
and other topics in astroparticle physics.
NEUTRINO COSMOLOGY

JULIEN LESGOURGUES
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland
CERN, Switzerland
CNRS – Université de Savoie, France

GIANPIERO MANGANO
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Italy

GENNARO MIELE
University of Naples Federico II, Italy

SERGIO PASTOR
IFIC, CSIC – Universitat de València, Spain
 cambridge university press
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,
Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107013957


C J. Lesgourgues, G. Mangano, G. Miele, S. Pastor 2013

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2013

Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by the MPG Books Group

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data

Lesgourgues, Julien.
Neutrino cosmology / Julien Lesgourgues, École Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland,
CERN, Switzerland, CNRS – Universite de Savoie, France, Gianpiero Mangano, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica
Nucleare (INFN), Italy, Gennaro Miele, University of Naples “Frederico II”, Italy, Sergio Pastor, CSIC –
Universitat de Valencia, Spain.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-107-01395-7 (hardback)
1. Neutrinos. 2. Neutrino astrophysics. 3. Cosmology. I. Mangano, Gianpiero. II. Miele, Gennaro.
III. Pastor, Sergio. IV. Title.
QC793.5.N42L47 2013
539.7 215 – dc23 2012042364

ISBN 978-1-107-01395-7 Hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or

accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to
in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such
websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
 Contents

Preface page ix
1 The basics of neutrino physics 1
1.1 The electroweak Standard Model 2
1.2 Spontaneous symmetry breaking and fermion masses 5
1.3 The basic properties of neutrinos: interactions, masses
and oscillations 9
1.3.1 Neutrino interactions in the low energy limit 9
1.3.2 Dirac and Majorana masses 16
1.3.3 The seesaw mechanism 22
1.3.4 Flavour oscillations in vacuum 25
1.3.5 Flavour oscillations in matter 30
1.4 Neutrino experiments 35
1.4.1 Oscillation experiments and three-neutrino mixing 35
1.4.2 Oscillation experiments and sterile neutrinos 40
1.4.3 Neutrino mass scale experiments 42
1.4.4 Dirac or Majorana? Neutrinoless double-β decay 46
1.5 Nonstandard neutrino–electron interactions 50
2 Overview of the Standard Cosmological Model 53
2.1 The homogeneous and isotropic universe 55
2.1.1 The dynamics of expansion 55
2.1.2 Distances in the universe 65
2.2 Statistical mechanics in the expanding universe 70
2.2.1 The relativistic Boltzmann equation 70
2.2.2 When equilibrium holds 80
2.3 The expansion stages 83
2.3.1 Inflation 83

v
vi Contents

2.3.2 Radiation and matter domination 87

2.3.3  (or dark energy) domination 92
2.4 A first look at photon and neutrino backgrounds 95
2.4.1 Photon decoupling and the formation
of the cosmic microwave background 95
2.4.2 The cosmic neutrino background 98
3 Neutrinos in the early ages 106
3.1 The baryon number of the universe 107
3.2 Sakharov conditions 109
3.3 C, CP, B, out of equilibrium and all that 112
3.3.1 C and CP violation 112
3.3.2 Baryon and lepton number violation 113
3.3.3 Relating baryon and lepton numbers 119
3.3.4 The out-of-equilibrium decay scenario 121
3.4 Basics of leptogenesis 125
3.4.1 Standard leptogenesis and Majorana neutrinos 126
3.4.2 Leptogenesis and neutrino oscillation: Two
right-handed neutrinos 131
4 Neutrinos in the MeV age 134
4.1 Neutrino decoupling 135
4.2 Neutrino oscillations in the expanding universe 143
4.2.1 Effective matter potentials 143
4.2.2 Density matrix formalism 145
4.2.3 Flavour oscillations and relic neutrino distortions 152
4.2.4 Flavour oscillations and relic neutrino asymmetries 154
4.2.5 Active–sterile oscillations 160
4.3 Big Bang nucleosynthesis 166
4.3.1 Neutron–proton chemical equilibrium 170
4.3.2 The nuclear network 173
4.3.3 Light-element observations 176
4.3.4 Theory vs. data 180
4.4 Bounds on neutrino properties from Big Bang nucleosynthesis 181
4.4.1 Extra relativistic degrees of freedom 183
4.4.2 Relic neutrino asymmetries 185
4.4.3 Nonstandard neutrino electromagnetic properties
and interactions 189
4.4.4 Sterile neutrinos and Big Bang nucleosynthesis 193
 Contents vii

5 Neutrinos in the cosmic microwave background epoch 198

5.1 Cosmic microwave background anisotropies 199
5.1.1 Overview 199
5.1.2 Perturbation equations 201
5.1.3 Adiabatic and isocurvature modes 208
5.1.4 Power spectra and transfer functions 211
5.1.5 Acoustic oscillations 213
5.1.6 Temperature anisotropies 220
5.1.7 Polarization anisotropies 233
5.1.8 Tensor perturbations 234
5.2 Neutrino perturbations 236
5.2.1 Perturbation equations 236
5.2.2 Neutrino isocurvature modes 240
5.2.3 Adiabatic mode in the presence of neutrinos 242
5.2.4 Free-streaming length 244
5.2.5 Linear evolution of neutrino perturbations 248
5.2.6 Practical implementation and approximations 249
5.3 Effects of neutrinos on primary cosmic microwave background
anisotropies 253
5.3.1 How can decoupled species affect the cosmic
microwave background? 253
5.3.2 Effects of massless neutrinos 255
5.3.3 Effects of massive neutrinos 262
5.3.4 Effects of interacting neutrinos 266
5.4 Bounds on neutrinos from primary cosmic-microwave-
background anisotropies 267
5.4.1 Cosmic microwave background and homogeneous
cosmology data sets 267
5.4.2 Neutrino abundance 268
5.4.3 Neutrino masses 271
6 Recent times: neutrinos and structure formation 273
6.1 Linear matter power spectrum 274
6.1.1 Neutrinoless universe with cold dark matter 275
6.1.2 Neutrinoless universe with cold dark matter and
baryons 284
6.1.3 Impact of massless neutrinos 290
6.1.4 Impact of hot dark matter 293
6.1.5 Impact of warm dark matter 312
viii Contents

6.2 Nonlinear matter power spectrum 317

6.2.1 N-body simulations 317
6.2.2 Analytic approaches 323
6.3 Impact of neutrinos on secondary cosmic microwave
background anisotropies 324
6.3.1 Late integrated Sachs–Wolfe effect 324
6.3.2 Cosmic microwave background lensing 327
6.4 Observing the large-scale structure 328
6.4.1 Galaxy and cluster power spectrum 329
6.4.2 Cluster mass function 331
6.4.3 Galaxy weak lensing 332
6.4.4 Cosmic microwave background lensing 334
6.4.5 Lyman alpha forests 334
6.4.6 21-cm surveys 335
6.5 Large-scale structure bounds on neutrino properties 335
6.5.1 Active neutrino masses 335
6.5.2 Neutrino abundance and light sterile neutrinos 339
6.5.3 Nonstandard properties of active neutrinos 342
6.5.4 Heavy sterile neutrinos (warm dark matter) 344
7 Cosmological neutrinos today 348
7.1 The ultimate dream: detecting cosmological neutrinos 349
7.1.1 Scatterings: G2F effects are too small 349
7.1.2 The order GF interactions and the Stodolsky effect 350
7.1.3 Massive neutrinos and β-decaying nuclei 354
7.2 Beyond the ultimate dream: neutrino anisotropies in the sky 359
7.2.1 Neutrino last scattering surface 359
7.2.2 Massless neutrinos 359
7.2.3 Massive neutrinos 360
References 362
Index 375
 Preface

To Arianna, Carmen, Isabelle, and Marı́a José

When neutrinos first came on the scene in 1930, their father, Wolfgang Pauli,
confessed to his colleague, the astronomer Walter Baade, that to save energy
conservation in β-decays (quoted in Hoyle, 1967),
I have done a terrible thing today, something which no theoretical physicist should ever
do. I have suggested something that can never be verified experimentally.

This was perhaps the only time Pauli was mistaken. Less than 30 years later,
neutrinos were discovered by Reines and Cowan.
Since then, we have learned so many things about neutrinos that Pauli himself
would be very surprised. More than this, understanding neutrino properties has
always brought new insights into the whole field of fundamental interactions, and
new theoretical paradigms.
Today we know quite accurately how to describe their feeble interactions with
matter, from the very first attempts of Fermi to the succesful Standard Model of
electroweak interactions. Many pieces of information have been collected in labo-
ratory experiments, the traditional setting of particle physics. The study of neutrino
interactions has been pursued at accelerators and reactors and, more recently,
by sending neutrino beams produced at accelerators to underground laboratories.
Accelerator experiments have also confirmed that there are only three generations
of light neutrinos which are weakly interacting.
The main breakthrough in neutrino physics over the last few decades came from
a different environment: astrophysics. The solar neutrino problem – an observed
deficit of neutrino flux from the sun – along with the atmospheric neutrino anomaly,
has led to the discovery that neutrinos are massive particles. We do not understand
their mass spectrum yet, nor why they are such light particles. On the experi-
mental side, remarkable improvements are expected in the next few years, both in

ix
x Preface

measuring the neutrino mass scale using tritium β-decay, and in understanding the
real nature of neutrinos as Dirac or Majorana particles. At the same time, intense
theoretical activity is going on, addressing the neutrino mass problem, which is
seen as a possible clue to unveiling the behaviour of fundamental interactions at
high energy scales.
The most spectacular property of neutrinos is deeply rooted in quantum mechan-
ics. As first suggested by Bruno Pontecorvo, neutrinos exhibit oscillations among
different flavours during their time evolution, leading to an incredibly rich phe-
nomenology. The parameters characterizing this oscillatory behaviour are cur-
rently quite well known, because of the interplay of a variety of different exper-
imental techniques and neutrino sources of both terrestrial and astrophysical
origin. Just at the time of writing this book, the last missing piece of the puzzle,
one of the neutrino mixing angles, was measured with good precision. No doubt
neutrino oscillation physics will represent a leading research line in the coming
years.
Since the early works on the synthesis of light nuclei in the Big Bang model in
the late forties, it was clear that neutrinos are not simply passive spectators during
the expansion of the universe. Through their weak interactions with other particles,
as well as their gravity, they influence a wide variety of phenomena which took
place in the early stages of the life of the universe, till very recent epochs. This
means that using observations of astrophysical quantities, related to specific phases
of the expansion history, we have a further way to constrain neutrino properties
at different energy, time and length scales, which in some cases are not accessible
to laboratory experiments. Just to give a few examples, some constraints on the
number of light weakly interacting neutrinos and on their mass scale were obtained
using observations of primordial 4 He and of the total energy density of the universe
well before laboratory experiments could provide comparable information.
This vast arena in which to test neutrino properties is usually referred to as
neutrino cosmology, and that is what this book is about. By its very nature, it is a
multidisciplinary reasearch field, where the different expertises and backgrounds of
theoretical and experimental particle physicists, astrophysicists and cosmologists
find a meeting point and a common language. It is a branch of an even broader
scientific activity, commonly called astroparticle physics, aimed at understanding
fundamental interactions by exploiting observations of very large objects, such as
astrophysical sources, or the universe as a whole.
In the last two decades, we have witnessed a big boost along this research line,
due to outstanding improvements in the number and quality of astrophysical obser-
vations. Large galaxy surveys, detailed maps of the cosmic microwave background,
observations of primordial nuclear abundances and new ways to trace the expansion
history of the universe are just a few examples of this experimental effort. Whereas
only 20 years ago neutrino cosmology was in its infancy, and theoretical physicists
 Preface xi

were typically satisfied by order-of-magnitude calculations made on the back of

the envelope, the situation has changed rapidly since then. Observations currently
require a much more detailed analysis, and provide several new tests of theoretical
models.
This book is a summary of the history of the universe from a neutrino perspective.
The first two chapters introduce the three important theoretical tools that will be
widely used in the following: the basics of neutrino interactions and properties in
the framework of the Standard Model of particle physics, the homogeneous and
isotropic cosmological model, and some concepts of kinetic theory. We have done
our best to present a pedagogical and self-contained discussion of these topics,
and we are not sure that we have succeeded in this respect. Indeed, the subject
of this book is intrinsically multidisciplinary, and covering all topics in a detailed
and self-consistent manner – while keeping the number of pages reasonable – was
a major challenge. Readers who are not familiar with, say, quantum field theory,
general relativity, gauge issues in cosmology or the theory of inflation will need
further reading in more specialized books or reviews. In any case, we tried at least
to introduce all the concepts that are necessary for understanding the remaining
chapters. We hope that this part may also trigger the reader’s interest in further
studying the topics he or she might be unfamiliar with. To this end, we give a long
list of possible references.
The remaining chapters are devoted to different aspects of the role of neutrinos
in cosmology, in chronological order, as they intervene in the evolution of the
universe, from the very early stages till today. Chapter 3 addresses the issue of
baryogenesis, the dynamical production of the baryon asymmetry observed in our
universe, and in particular a scenario deeply related to neutrino properties, called
leptogenesis. Chapter 4 deals with the dynamics of neutrino oscillations in a cos-
mological setting, and also with primordial nucleosynthesis, one of the main pillars
of the cosmological model, providing a lot of information about neutrino physics.
Chapter 5 explains the properties of cosmic microwave background anisotropies,
which contain a huge quantity of information about the whole history of the uni-
verse, and shows how they are impacted by neutrinos. Chapter 6 describes the
dynamics of structure formation on very large scales – those of galaxies, clusters,
etc. – which is crucially affected by the abundance, mass and properties of neu-
trinos. Finally, Chapter 7 presents a summary of the methods which have been
proposed so far to detect the relic neutrino background in the laboratory, and a
brief discussion of the anisotropies that such detectors would see if they could ever
become operational. As we will see, this is a very challenging task, the ultimate
dream of a neutrino cosmologist.
In this book we will adopt the signature (− + + +), except in Chapters 1 and
4, which are more particle physics oriented, where we adopt the more widely used
(+ − − −). Unless otherwise mentioned, we use natural units.
xii Preface

If we look into some of the available Web archives for scientific papers related
to both neutrinos and cosmology, the query will return a number of publications
of the order of several thousands. This gives an idea of how intense the activity is
in this research field. In the following pages, the reader will not find a complete
analysis of all possible models and ideas proposed so far. Some alternatives to the
mainstream scenarios – sometimes extremely interesting and intriguing – have not
been considered in our discussion, and are cited in our (rather long) list of refer-
ences. We apologize for all omissions. However, in writing this book, our guideline
has been to try to present the main physical aspects of the phenomena neutrinos are
involved in, rather than to go through all their possible variations. In a sense, what
we have mainly considered is a standard neutrino cosmology, describing what is
currently well established on solid theoretical and experimental bases. We hope
this might be helpful for students and researchers who are interested in approaching
this fascinating research field, starting from different cultural backgrounds. If this
ambitious goal is achieved even partially, we will be happy with our contribution
to a process that is well on the way, namely, the emergence of a homogeneous
community of theoretical and experimental particle physicists, cosmologists and
astrophysicists.
This book is the result of the authors’ friendship over many years. However, it
would not have been written were not for enlightening discussions and collabora-
tions with many of our colleagues. Several topics that the reader hopefully will find
interesting in the following pages are the outcome of their work and enthusiasm,
and of their sharing with us their knowledge and experience.
We warmly thank Benjamin Audren, Steve Blanchet, Diego Blas, Alexei
Boyarski, Marco Cirelli, Gaëlle Giesen, Martin Hirsch, Michal Malinský, Oleg
Ruchayskiy, Pasquale Serpico, Mikhail Shaposhnikov and Mariam Tórtola for
reading a draft version of this book.
We are also very much indebted to Alfredo Cocco, Alexander Dolgov, Salvatore
Esposito, Giuliana Fiorillo, Jan Hamann, Steen Hannestad, Steen Hansen, Fabio
Iocco, Alessandro Melchiorri, Marcello Messina, Marco Peloso, Serguey Petcov,
Massimo Pietroni, Ofelia Pisanti, Georg Raffelt, Antonio Riotto, Thomas Tram,
José W.F. Valle, Matteo Viel and Yvonne Wong.
Matteo Viel and his collaborators Martin G. Haehnelt and Volker Springel
deserve special thanks for allowing us to use their beautiful N-body simulations
on the cover of this book.
We are also pleased to acknowledge the Cambridge University Press staff for
their help and continuous support.
Our families have given the strongest support in this adventure. This book was
written by many hands: those of Aitana, Apolline, Arianna, Carmen, Constance,
Davide, Diane, Héctor, Isabelle, Marı́a José and Matteo.
 1
The basics of neutrino physics

Like the actors in ancient Greek tragedy and comedy, neutrinos play more than
one role in the drama of the expanding universe. They couple to gravity and con-
tribute to Einstein equations which rule the expansion dynamics. Furthermore,
they interact in the primordial plasma with charged leptons and hadrons via elec-
troweak interactions, until the rates for these processes become so low compared
with the typical expansion rate that they decouple and start to propagate freely
along geodesic lines. Any quantitative description of their role in cosmology thus
requires several inputs from the theory of fundamental interactions, as well as a
knowledge of their basic properties, such as masses and, in some cases, the features
of neutrino flavour oscillations.
Neutrino interactions have been well understood since the first theory of β-
decay proposed by Enrico Fermi in 1934, and now are succesfully and beautifully
described by the unified picture of electroweak interactions. In the low energy
limit the strength of these interactions is encoded in a single coupling, the Fermi
coupling constant GF , whose value, combined with the Newton constant, fixes the
time of neutrino decoupling. From the strong experimental evidence in favour of
neutrino oscillation, we also know that neutrinos are massive particles, and this, as
we will see at length in the following, has a strong impact on how structures, i.e.,
inhomogeneities in the universe, grow on certain length scales.
As a viaticum for this journey in the land of neutrino cosmology, it seemed
worth-while to the authors to provide the reader with certain minimal information
on the basic properties of neutrinos, both at the level of their theoretical formulation
and from the experimental point of view.
Unfortunately, to keep a self-contained summary of these topics reasonably short
requires the reader to be acquainted with the basics of quantum field theory and
of the gauge principle, which are treated in full detail in many excellent textbooks
(e.g., Itzykson and Zuber, 1980; Halzen and Martin, 1984; Weinberg, 1995; Peskin
and Schroeder, 1995). In case he or she is familiar with neutrino physics, it is then

1
2 The basics of neutrino physics

possible to skip this chapter, though it might be useful to go through it anyway

to become familiar with our notation. For all other readers, the following sections
can represent only a too-brief synthesis of the present understanding of neutrino
properties, hopefully sufficient for them to comfortably read the rest of this book,
and likewise hopefully to trigger their curiosity for a deeper understanding of
neutrino physics.
Here is a summary of this introductory chapter. After a short review of the
Standard Model of fundamental interactions, which covers only the details of its
electroweak sector, we describe the main observable properties of neutrinos –
interaction processes, Dirac and Majorana masses and flavour oscillations –
including a summary of bounds on a certain class of exotic interactions which
are beyond our present understanding of microscopic physics but are typically
predicted by extensions of the Standard Model which represent its ultraviolet
completion. We then give a résumé of experimental results on flavour oscillation
experiments, laboratory neutrino mass bounds and neutrinoless double-β decay,
the last being an experimentum crucis to test their Dirac or Majorana nature.

1.1 The electroweak Standard Model

Gauge symmetry has proven to be a powerful guideline to building up a satis-
factory theory of fundamental interactions. Strong and electroweak interactions
are described by a relativistic quantum field theory based on the gauge symmetry
principle for the group SU (3)C × SU (2)L × U (1)Y , where C, L and Y denote
colour, left-handed chirality and weak hypercharge (Glashow, 1961; Weinberg,
1972; Salam, 1968; Fritzsch et al., 1973; Gross and Wilczek, 1973; Politzer, 1973;
Weinberg, 1973). The model is so successful that it is now usually referred to as
the ‘Standard Model’ (SM) of elementary particles.
Whereas the strong sector SU (3)C symmetry remains unbroken, and hence is an
exact symmetry at any energy level, the electroweak forces undergo spontaneous
symmetry breaking via the Higgs mechanism, which reduces the symmetry of the
model at low energies to SU (2)L × U (1)Y → U (1)Q , with Q being the electric
charge. In the following we will focus our attention on the electroweak sector only,
because neutrinos, like all leptons, do not carry colour charge and are not strongly
interacting.
The requirement that a field theory is gauge-invariant under a particular sym-
metry group strictly fixes the form of the interaction and the number of gauge
bosons. Unfortunately, it leaves quite a high level of arbitrariness in the choice of
the irreducible representations (IR) of the gauge group to accommodate fermions
and the Higgs scalar bosons. The only constraint is provided by the cancellation of
 1.1 The electroweak Standard Model 3

Table 1.1 Elementary fermions in the SM

Generation 1st 2nd 3rd

quarks u c t
d s b
leptons νe νμ ντ
e− μ− τ−

Table 1.2 Electroweak quantum numbers of fermions in the SM

Fermion IRs under SU (2)L × U (1)Y I I3 Y Q

     
νeL νμL ντ L 1/2 0
LeL ≡ LμL ≡ Lτ L ≡ 1/2 −1
eL μL τL −1/2 −1

leR ≡ eR lμR ≡ μR lτ R ≡ τR 0 0 −2 −1
     
uL cL tL 1/2 2/3
Q1L ≡ Q2L ≡ Q3L ≡ 1/2 1/3
dL sL bL −1/2 −1/3
U
quR ≡ uR U
qcR ≡ cR U
qtR ≡ tR 4/3 2/3
0 0
D
qdR ≡ dR D
qsR ≡ sR D
qbR ≡ bR −2/3 −1/3

the chiral anomaly, a condition which must be fulfilled if gauge symmetry should
also be respected at the quantum level.
The currently known fermionic elementary particles (spin s = 1/2) are split into
three generations of quarks and leptons; see Table 1.1. Each generation of fermions
is described by the IRs of the electroweak gauge group as shown in Table 1.2, where
we also report their charges.
By I we denote the weak isospin, which is 1/2 for SU (2)L doublets and 0 for
singlets, respectively, whereas I3 is its third component. The electric charge Q is
given by the Gell-Mann–Nishijima relation Q = I3 + Y/2.
The three-generation electroweak Lagrangian density is

/ LαL + i QαL D
L = iLαL D / QαL + ilαR

D 
/ lαR
1 1
D
+ iqαR D D
/ qαR U
+ iqαR D U
/ qαR − Fμν · F μν − Bμν B μν
4 4
 † ρ  2
+ Dρ  (D ) + μ2 †  − λ † 
4 The basics of neutrino physics

Table 1.3 Electroweak quantum numbers of the Higgs doublet

Higgs doublet I I3 Y Q
 
φ+ (x) 1/2 1
(x) ≡ 1/2 +1
φ0 (x) −1/2 0

 
l
− Yαβ 
LαL  lβR lβR † LαL
l∗ 
+ Yαβ
 
D
− Yαβ QαL  qβRD
+ Yαβ qβR † QαL
D∗ D

 
U
− Yαβ QαL (iσ2 ∗ ) qβR
U U ∗ U
+ Yαβ qβR (−iT σ2 ) QαL , (1.1)

where  is the Higgs doublet, whose properties are reported in Table 1.3. σ2 is a
Pauli matrix, and α is the generation index. In the following, repeated indices are
summed over, unless differently specified. The covariant derivative Dμ is defined
as
σ Y
Dμ ≡ ∂μ + ig Aμ · + ig  Bμ , (1.2)
2 2
with Aμ ≡ (Aμ1 , Aμ2 , Aμ3 ) and B μ denoting the gauge boson fields of the SU (2)L
and U (1)Y factors.
The canonical kinetic (and self-interacting for the SU (2)L factor) term for gauge
bosons is written in terms of the electroweak tensors F μν ≡ (F1 , F2 , F3 ) and
μν μν μν

B μν , where

3
μ
Faμν = ∂ μ Aνa − ∂ ν Aμa − g εabc Ab Aνc
b,c=1

B μν
=∂ B −∂ B .
μ ν ν μ
(1.3)

In the expression (1.1), fermion fields are marked by a prime to denote that these
fields in general are not mass eigenstates, as will be discussed in detail in the next
sections. Equation (1.1) contains in the first two lines the kinetic and electroweak
interaction terms for leptons and quarks and the pure gauge boson term, whereas
the third line accounts for the Higgs sector responsible for the symmetry breaking.
Finally, the last three lines correspond to the Yukawa terms characterized by the
l D U
complex couplings Yαβ , Yαβ and Yαβ . They are responsible for charged leptons and
quark masses and mixing.
We note that in its minimal version, there are no right-handed neutrino states νR
in the SM, which would be a singlet under all symmetry group factors. This implies
 1.2 Spontaneous symmetry breaking and fermion masses 5

that active neutrinos νL remain massless, because there are no mass terms which
appear as a consequence of symmetry breaking, differently from charged leptons
and quarks. The extension of the model to massive neutrinos will be discussed in
the following.
From the first two lines of Eq. (1.1) one can extract the charged-current and
neutral-current weak interaction Lagrangian densities, denoted by L(CC)
I and L(NC)
I .
In particular, one gets
g μ
L(CC)
I = − √ JW Wμ + h.c., (1.4)
2 2
where JWμ = JW,L
μ μ
+ JW,Q and
 

γ μ eL + νμL

γ μ μL + ντ L γ μ τL
μ
JW,L = 2 νeL
 
= 2 uL γ μ dL + cL γ μ sL + tL γ μ bL .
μ
JW,Q (1.5)
μ √
The gauge boson field W μ ≡ (A1 − iA2 )/ 2 by definition annihilates a W + boson
μ

and creates a W − boson. The neutral current density

g μ
L(NC)
I =− J Zμ + h.c., (1.6)
2 cos θW Z
μ μ μ
where JZ = JZ,L + JZ,Q and
 
μ      
JZ,L = 2 gLν ναL γ μ ναL + gLl lαL γ μ lαL + gRl lαR γ μ lαR
 
μ U μ U U μ U D μ D D μ D
JZ,Q = 2 gLU qαL γ qαL + gRU qαR γ qαR + gLD qαL γ qαL + gRD qαR γ qαR .
(1.7)
μ
The gauge field Z μ is defined via the rotation Z μ = cos θW A3 − sin θW B μ , where
tan θW = g  /g and e = g sin θW . Finally, the couplings gLν,l,U,D and gRl,U,D are given
by the relations
f f
gL = I3 − Qf sin2 θW (1.8)
f
gR = −Qf sin2 θW , (1.9)
which are summarized in Table 1.4.

1.2 Spontaneous symmetry breaking and fermion masses

It is easy to see that a naive mass term such as eL eR + h.c. is not allowed in the
Lagrangian density (1.1) because it would spoil the symmetry invariance under
the gauge group SU (2)L × U (1)Y . However, when this group symmetry is broken,
6 The basics of neutrino physics

Table 1.4 Neutral-current couplings for the

elementary fermions

gL gR

gLν = 1
2

gLl = − 12 + sin2 θW gRl = sin2 θW

gLU = 1
2
− 23 sin2 θW gRU = − 23 sin2 θW
gLD = − 12 + 13 sin2 θW gRD = 1
3
sin2 θW

masses are produced via the celebrated Higgs–Englert–Brout–Guralnik–Hagen–

Kibble mechanism (Englert and Brout, 1964; Guralnik et al., 1964; Higgs, 1964a,b).
The dynamics of the Higgs field  is ruled by the term in L
 †  †  2
LH = Dρ  (D ρ ) − V () = Dρ  (D ρ ) + μ2 †  − λ †  .
(1.10)

In quantum field theory, the minimum of the potential defines the ground state
around which the fields are expanded in terms of creation and annihilation operators.
Quantum excitations on the ground state correspond to particle states. Note that
only neutral fields with vanishing spin (scalar) may have nontrivial ground states;
otherwise this would spoil the electric charge conservation and the invariance under
spatial rotations. The Higgs field ground state value  , hereafter referred to as
the vacuum expectation value (vev), can be written in the form

1 0
 =√ , (1.11)
2 v

where v is a real positive quantity. By substituting  in V () one gets the

minimum of the energy density for v = μ2 /λ, and around the minimum, in the
unitary gauge, the Higgs doublet reads

1 0
= √ , (1.12)
2 v + H (x)

H (x) being a real scalar field.

The value of v is known, because the first striking effect of symmetry breaking
is that three gauge bosons become massive, the charged W ± and Z. In particular,
mW = gv/2 = mZ cos θW . From the experimental value of the Fermi constant GF –
see the next section – we get v ∼ 246 GeV.
 1.2 Spontaneous symmetry breaking and fermion masses 7

Substituting (1.12) in the Yukawa couplings reported in the last three lines
of Eq. (1.1), we see how fermion mass terms are produced after the symmetry
breaking. Let us consider, for example, the term of L coupling leptons with the
Higgs field,
l 
LH,L = −Yαβ LαL  lβR + h.c. (1.13)

Once the Higgs field is developed around its minimum, one gets
v + H (x)  l   
LH,L = − √ Yαβ lαL lβR + h.c. . (1.14)
2
The term of Eq. (1.14) proportional to the vev provides the mass term for charged
leptons, whereas the contribution proportional to H (x) accounts for the trilinear
coupling between charged leptons and the scalar boson H . Because the couplings
Y l are generally not diagonal in the three-generations space, one must diagonal-
ize them before interpreting (1.14) as a genuine mass term. A generic complex
matrix such as Y l can be transformed into a diagonal form Y l through a biunitary
transformation
l†
VL Y l VRl = Y l l
Yαβ = yαl δαβ . (1.15)

With the transformed leptonic fields defined as

l† l†
lR = VR lR and lL = VL lL , (1.16)

the term LH,L can be rewritten as

v + H (x)   
LH,L = − √ ylα lαL lαR + h.c. . (1.17)
2 α
√
From (1.17) one gets mα = yαl v/ 2 for α = e, μ, τ . In terms of these masses one
can also rewrite the interaction term between charged leptons and H (x) as
 mα  
LIH,L = −H (x) lαL lαR + h.c. , (1.18)
α
v

which simply states that a heavier lepton is more strongly coupled to the Higgs
field than a lighter one.
μ
When the weak charged current JW,L is rewritten in terms of mass eigenstates
lαL ,
μ 
JW,L = 2 ναL (VL )αβ γ μ lβL . (1.19)
8 The basics of neutrino physics

As long as neutrinos do not receive any mass term by the Higgs mechanism,
because no right-handed partners νR have been introduced so far, we can redefine
†
the neutrino field as νL = VL νL and get
μ
JW,L = 2 ναL γ μ lαL , (1.20)
where by definition lαL ≡ (eL− , μ− −
L , τL ) and ναL ≡ (νeL , νμL , ντ L ).
μ
Concerning JZ,L of Eq. (1.7), one can easily see that by virtue of the unitarity
of the matrices VLl and VRl it remains unchanged; hence one can simply replace the
primed fields with the unprimed ones in (1.7).
For the Yukawa terms for quark fields one proceeds in the very same way. In the
unitary gauge
v + H (x)  D D D U U U

LH,Q = − √ Yαβ qαL qβR + Yαβ qαL qβR + h.c. . (1.21)
2
Thus, by simultaneously diagonalizing the matrices of Yukawa couplings (Y D )αβ
and (Y U )αβ via biunitary transformations VLD , VRD , VLU and VRU and defining the
transformed quark fields as
D† D†
qRD = VR qRD , qLD = VL qLD (1.22)
U† U†
qRU = VR qRU , qLU = VL qLU , (1.23)
we can rewrite the mass term in LH,Q as
 H (x)
LH,Q = − mα 1 + D
qαL D
qαR
α=d,s,b
v
 H (x)
− mα 1 + U
qαL U
qαR + h.c. (1.24)
α=u,c,t
v

In this case, however, as all quarks are massive and have different masses, we have
no freedom to arbitrarily rotate D or U quarks in the hadronic weak charged current
 
μ U†
JW,Q = 2qαL U
γ μ VL VLD D
qβL . (1.25)
αβ

The unitary matrix

U†
V ≡ VL VLD (1.26)
is the Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa (CKM) mixing matrix (Cabibbo, 1963;
Kobayashi and Maskawa, 1973), which depends upon three angles θ12 (the Cabibbo
angle, θC , up to very small corrections), θ23 and θ13 and one phase δ,
⎛ ⎞
c12 c13 s12 c13 s13 e−iδ
V = ⎝ −s12 c23 − c12 s23 s13 eiδ c12 c23 − s12 s23 s13 eiδ s23 c13 ⎠ , (1.27)
s12 s23 − c12 c23 s13 e iδ
−c12 s23 − s12 c23 s13 e iδ
c23 c13
 1.3 The basic properties of neutrinos: interactions, masses and oscillations 9

where cij = cos θij , sij = sin θij , and 0 ≤ θij ≤ π/2. To see that V can always be
reduced to this form one has to recall that an arbitrary 3 × 3 unitary matrix has nine
real parameters, but we have to subtract five free parameters connected with the
single and independent rephasing of quark fields (the global rephasing still remains
a symmetry of the system). In the case of quarks the three mixing angles satisfy a
hierarchical structure, s12 = 0.22535 ± 0.00065 (Beringer et al., 2012), s23 ∼ s12 2
,
s13 ∼ s12 .
4

As can be proven by studying the CP transformation (charge conjugation and

parity) of the SM Lagrangian density written in terms of mass eigenstates, the
only possible source of CP violation is encoded in the presence of the complex
phase δ in V (1.27). Because CP violation processes have been observed in the
hadron phenomenology, this has been ascribed to the presence of a nonvanishing
value of δ. Indeed, the preferred value for this parameter is sin δ ∼ 0.93 (Beringer
et al., 2012). All CP-violating effects in the quark sector can be expressed in terms
of a single parameter, the Jarlskog parameter, which is invariant under the phase
convention of quark fields:
 
J = −Im Vus Vcd Vcs∗ Vud ∗
= c12 c23 c13
2
s12 s23 s13 sδ ∼ 3 × 10−5 . (1.28)

In complete analogy to the leptonic case, one can show that unitarity of the
μ
matrices VLD , VLU , VRD , VRU implies that the expression for JZ,Q remains the same
after the primed quark fields are replaced with the mass eigenstates.

1.3 The basic properties of neutrinos: interactions, masses and oscillations

1.3.1 Neutrino interactions in the low energy limit
The two terms in the SM Lagrangian density, L(CC) I and L(NC)
I – see (1.4) and (1.6),
respectively – describe a three-body process involving two fermions and W ± and Z
gauge bosons, whose mass is on the order of 100 GeV. Whenever the typical range
for energies and momenta carried by the leptons (or quarks) is much smaller than
this value, the gauge bosons produced in the trilinear vertex can only propagate as
virtual particles. We will see that this is, for example, typically the case in almost
all relevant cases in cosmology in which we will be interested in the following.
The gauge propagators
 p p
d 4 p −gμν + m2W −ip·(x−x  )
μ ν

GW
μν (x

−x )≡ 0|T Wμ (x)Wν† (x  )|0 = lim i e
→0 (2π )4 p 2 − m2W + i
 p p
d 4 p −gμν + m2Z −ip·(x−x  )
μ ν

GZμν (x 
−x )≡ 0|T Zμ (x)Zν† (x  )|0 = lim i e
→0 (2π )4 p 2 − m2Z + i
(1.29)
10 The basics of neutrino physics

can then be considered in their short-range limit,

 pμ mWgμν 4
μν (x − x ) −→ i
GW 2
δ (x − x  ) (1.30)
mW
p μ
mZ gμν
GZμν (x − x  ) −→ i 2 δ 4 (x − x  ). (1.31)
mZ

Hence, the weak charged-current and neutral-current processes at tree level in the
low energy limit are described by the effective Lagrangians

g 2 μ† GF μ†
L(CC)
eff = − J J = − √ JW JμW
2 W μW
(1.32)
8mW 2
g2 μ† GF μ†
L(NC)
eff = − 2
J J = −2 √ ρJZ JμZ ,
2 Z μZ
(1.33)
4 cos θW mZ 2
√
where GF ≡ 2g 2 /(8m2W ) = 1.166 × 10−5 GeV−2 is the Fermi constant and ρ ≡
m2W /(m2Z cos2 θW ), which is equal to unity in the SM.
The interaction terms L(CC) (NC)
eff and Leff can mediate a set of purely four-lepton
processes such as the ones reported in Tables 1.5 and 1.6. In the following we will
treat only some of them in detail, but we will show how to use the results contained
in Tables 1.5 and 1.6 for a simple generalization to all the others.
Let us consider in particular neutrino–electron elastic scattering, νe + e− →
νe + e− and νμ(τ ) + e− → νμ(τ ) + e− . From Eqs. (1.32) and (1.33) one can easily
get the amplitudes

GF
Aνx e− →νx e− = − √ [uνx γ ρ (1 − γ5 )uνx ][ue γρ (gVl − gAl γ5 )ue ] (1.34)
2
GF  
Aνe e− →νe e− = − √ [uνe γ ρ (1 − γ5 )ue [ue γρ (1 − γ5 )uνe ]
2

+ [uνe γ ρ (1 − γ5 )uνe ][ue γρ (gVl − gAl γ5 )ue ]
GF
= − √ [uνe γ ρ (1 − γ5 )uνe ][ue γρ ((1 + gVl ) − (1 + gAl )γ5 )ue ],
2
(1.35)

where x = μ, τ , gVl ≡ gLl + gRl , and gAl ≡ gLl − gRl (see Table 1.4). Note that to
obtain the final form of Aνe e− →νe e− we have used one of the Fierz rearrangement
formulas. In Tables 1.5 and 1.6 are reported the squared amplitudes for several pure
weak leptonic processes at three level. The list is not complete, but the missing
processes can be obtained using crossing symmetry.
 1.3 The basic properties of neutrinos: interactions, masses and oscillations 11

Table 1.5 The matrix elements for various processes with electronic
neutrinos, where g̃Ll ≡ 1 + gLl

Process 1 + 2 −→ 3 + 4 2−5 G−2
F S s |A1 2→3 4 |2

νe + ν e −→ νe + ν e 4 (p1 · p4 )(p2 · p3 )
νe + νe −→ νe + νe 2 (p1 · p2 )(p3 · p4 )
νe + ν e −→ νμ(τ ) + ν μ(τ ) (p1 · p4 )(p2 · p3 )
νe + ν μ(τ ) −→ νe + ν μ(τ ) (p1 · p4 )(p2 · p3 )
νe + νμ(τ ) −→ νe + νμ(τ ) (p1 · p2 )(p3 · p4 )
4[g̃Ll2 (p1 · p4 )(p2 · p3 )
νe + ν e −→ e+ + e− + gRl2 (p1 · p3 )(p2 · p4 )
+ g̃Ll gRl m2e (p1 · p2 )]
4[g̃Ll2 (p1 · p2 )(p3 · p4 )
νe + e− −→ νe + e− + gRl2 (p1 · p4 )(p2 · p3 )
− g̃Ll gRl m2e (p1 · p3 )]
4[gRl2 (p1 · p2 )(p3 · p4 )
− −
ν e + e −→ ν e + e + g̃Ll2 (p1 · p4 )(p2 · p3 )
− g̃Ll gRl m2e (p1 · p3 )]

Note: S is a symmetrization factor, the product of a factor 1/2 for each pair
of identical particles in initial and final states and a factor 2 if there are two
identical particles in the initial state.
Source: Dolgov et al. (1997).

Starting from Eq. (1.34), it is easy to obtain the differential cross section (see,
e.g., Halzen and Martin, 1984):

d G2F s  l 2  2
σνx e− →νx e− = gV + gAl + gVl − gAl (1 − y)2
dy 4π

m2e  l 2 
−2 (gV ) − (gA ) y ,
l 2
(1.36)
s
where s stands for the Mandelstam variable s ≡ (p1 + p2 )2 and y ≡ 1 − (p2 ·
p3 /p1 · p2 ) is a Bjorken variable (using the notation for the momenta reported
in Tables 1.5 and 1.6). Note that 0 ≤ y ≤ 1. In the electron rest frame y = (E1 −
E3 )/E1 (inelasticity parameter). One can easily get the analogous expression (1.36)
for antineutrinos by simply replacing gAl → −gAl , obtaining

d G2F s  l 2  2
σν x e− →ν x e− = gV − gAl + gVl + gAl (1 − y)2
dy 4π

m2e  l 2 
−2 (gV ) − (gA ) y .
l 2
(1.37)
s
12 The basics of neutrino physics

Table 1.6 The matrix elements for various processes with

muon neutrinos

Process 1 + 2 −→ 3 + 4 2−5 G−2
F S s |A1 2→3 4 |2

νμ + ν μ −→ νμ + ν μ 4 (p1 · p4 )(p2 · p3 )
νμ + νμ −→ νμ + νμ 2 (p1 · p2 )(p3 · p4 )
νμ + ν μ −→ νe(τ ) + ν e(τ ) (p1 · p4 )(p2 · p3 )
νμ + ν e(τ ) −→ νμ + ν e(τ ) (p1 · p4 )(p2 · p3 )
νμ + νe(τ ) −→ νμ + νe(τ ) (p1 · p2 )(p3 · p4 )
4[gLl2 (p1 · p4 )(p2 · p3 )
νμ + ν μ −→ e+ + e− + gRl2 (p1 · p3 )(p2 · p4 )
+ gLl gRl m2e (p1 · p2 )]
4[gLl2 (p1 · p2 )(p3 · p4 )
νμ + e− −→ νμ + e− + gRl2 (p1 · p4 )(p2 · p3 )
− gLl gRl m2e (p1 · p3 )]
4[gRl2 (p1 · p2 )(p3 · p4 )
ν μ + e− −→ ν μ + e− + gLl2 (p1 · p4 )(p2 · p3 )
− gLl gRl m2e (p1 · p3 )]

Note: The elements also apply to ντ .

Source: Dolgov et al. (1997).

The analogous results for νe and ν e can be deduced by using Eqs. (1.36) and (1.37)
and replacing gVl → 1 + gVl and gAl → 1 + gAl . Compare, for example, Eqs. (1.34)
and (1.35). After performing the integration over the Bjorken variable y, one gets
the expressions for the total cross sections, which are reported in Tables 1.7 and 1.8.
Concerning the reaction νe + ν e → e+ + e− and the reverse process e+ + e− →
νe + ν e (see Table 1.7), note that the difference in the prefactors multiplying the
expression [(s − m2e )(g̃Ll2 + gRl2 ) + 6 m2e g̃Ll gRl ] is due just to kinematic and statis-
tical reasons (the factor S is different for the two expressions). The same holds
for νμ .
In cosmology a relevant role is played by charged current processes involving
νe (ν e ) and nucleons,
νe + n → e − + p ν e + p → e+ + n
e − + p → νe + n n → e− + ν e + p
e+ + n → ν e + p e− + ν e + p → n, (1.38)
because their rates are among the key parameters which fix the amounts of light
elements synthesized in the early universe, in particular that of 4 He.
 1.3 The basic properties of neutrinos: interactions, masses and oscillations 13

Table 1.7 The cross sections for different purely leptonic processes
with the same notations as in Tables 1.5 and 1.6

Process 1 + 2 −→ 3 + 4 3π G−2
F σ1 2→3 4

νe + ν e −→ νe + ν e s
νe + νe −→ νe + νe 3
2
s
νe + ν e −→ νμ(τ ) + ν μ(τ ) 1
4
s
νe + ν μ(τ ) −→ νe + ν μ(τ ) 1
4
s
νe + νμ(τ ) −→ νe + νμ(τ ) 3
4
s
νe + ν e −→ e+ + e− √4
s
s − 4m2e [(s − m2e )(g̃Ll2 + gRl2 ) + 6m2e g̃Ll gRl ]
√
e+ + e− −→ νe + ν e √ s
[(s − m2e )(g̃Ll2 + gRl2 ) + 6m2e g̃Ll gRl ]
2 s−4m2e
νe + e− −→ νe + e− (3 s g̃Ll2 + s gRl2 − 3 m2e g̃Ll gRl )
ν e + e− −→ ν e + e− (3 s gRl2 + s g̃Ll2 − 3 m2e g̃Ll gRl )

Table 1.8 The cross sections for different purely leptonic processes
with the same notations as in Tables 1.5 and 1.6

Process 1 + 2 −→ 3 + 4 3π G−2
F σ1 2→3 4

νμ + ν μ −→ νμ + ν μ s
νμ + νμ −→ νμ + νμ 3
2
s
νμ + ν μ −→ νe(τ ) + ν e(τ ) 1
4
s
νμ + ν e(τ ) −→ νμ + ν e(τ ) 1
4
s
νμ + νe(τ ) −→ νμ + νe(τ ) 3
4
s
νμ + ν μ −→ e+ + e− √4
s
s − 4m2e [(s − m2e )(gLl2 + gRl2 ) + 6m2e gLl gRl ]
√
e+ + e− −→ νμ + ν μ √ s
[(s − m2e )(gLl2 + gRl2 ) + 6m2e gLl gRl ]
2 s−4m2e
νμ + e− −→ νμ + e− (3 s gLl2 + s gRl2 − 3 m2e gLl gRl )
ν μ + e− −→ ν μ + e− (3 s gRl2 + s gLl2 − 3 m2e gLl gRl )

Among them, the neutron decay process n → p + e− + ν e is particularly impor-

tant because it affects the n/p ratio at the onset of primordial nucleosynthesis. From
a historical point of view, it was studied by Fermi, who first described the low-
energy weak interaction via a four-fermion Hamiltonian. We here describe this
process in some detail. It will also be further discussed in Chapter 4. In the low
energy limit, the amplitude for β-decay, n(pn ) → p(pp ) + e− (pe ) + ν e (pν ) (see
14 The basics of neutrino physics

νe (pν e ) e− (pe)

n (pn) p (pp)

Figure 1.1 The Feynman diagram for the reaction n → p + e− + ν e at tree level.

Fig. 1.1), is obtained by L(CC)

eff reported in (1.32),

GF
An→pe− ν e = − √ Vud p|uu γ ρ (1 − γ5 )ud |n [ue γρ (1 − γ5 )uνe ] (1.39)
2
where Vud is the corresponding entry of the CKM matrix. In principle, the matrix
element of the hadronic current p|uu γ ρ (1 − γ5 )ud |n should be computed using
quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Unfortunately the nonperturbative regime of
QCD is still hardly treatable. Typically, to study such a matrix element, one exploits
the symmetry constraints it should obey. Let us split the hadronic current into its
vector and axial terms,
μ
VW (x) = uu (x)γ μ ud (x) (1.40)
AμW (x) = uu (x)γ μ γ5 ud (x). (1.41)

Because of Lorentz covariance, the Fourier transform of the matrix element

μ
p|VW |n can be written in full generality as
μ
p|VW |n = up (pp )[f1 (q 2 )γ μ + f2 (q 2 )(pnμ + ppμ )
+ f3 (q 2 )(pnμ − ppμ )]un (pn ), (1.42)

where q ≡ pp − pn , and f1 (q 2 ), f2 (q 2 ) and f3 (q 2 ) are independent form factors,

which can be functions of the nontrivial Lorentz invariants only. By using the
Dirac equation for spinors up and un , under the assumption of a negligible mass
difference between the neutron and proton, mn ≈ mp ≈ mN , we can recast (1.42)
 1.3 The basic properties of neutrinos: interactions, masses and oscillations 15

in the form
 
μ iσ μρ qρ qμ
p|VW |n = up (pp ) γ F1 (Q ) +
μ 2
F2 (Q ) +
2 2
F3 (Q ) un (pn ),
2mN mN
(1.43)

where Q2 ≡ −q 2 and F1 , F2 and F3 are three independent complex form factors,

combinations of f1 , f2 and f3 . In complete analogy, one can write for the axial
current
 μ μ 
μ pn + pp qμ
p|AW |n = up (pp ) γ GA (Q ) +
μ 2
G3 (Q ) +
2 2
GP (Q ) γ5 un (pn ).
mN mN
(1.44)

Invariance of QCD under time reversal and isospin implies that all form factors
are real and in particular F3 (Q2 ) = G3 (Q2 ) = 0. Moreover, because in β-decay
m2e ≤ q 2 ≤ (mn − mp )2 , the form factors intervening in Eqs. (1.43) and (1.44) are
effectively computed for Q2 ≈ 0.
The isospin invariance constrains even more the remaining form factors of vec-
tor current for Q2 = 0. In particular, the conserved vector current (CVC) hypoth-
esis, first considered in the 1950s and based on isospin invariance of the QCD
Lagrangian, connects F1 (0) and F2 (0) to the electromagnetic form factors of nucle-
ons that in the Q2 limit are well known,

F1 (0) = 1
μp − μn
F2 (0) = , (1.45)
μN

where μn and μp are neutron and proton magnetic moments, respectively, and
μN = e/(2mp ) is the nuclear magneton. Note that similar considerations can be
done for the axial current, leading to the well-known partial conserved axial current
hypothesis (PCAC), which connects the value of some of the axial parameters at
Q2 = 0 with pion mass and pion/nucleon coupling. This issue will not be discussed
because it is somewhat beyond the scope of this book.
In the neutron rest frame, because q 2 m2N , we can neglect terms proportional
to F2 and GP in Eqs. (1.43) and (1.44). Hence we get

Vud p|uu γ ρ (1 − γ5 )ud |n ≈ up (pp )γ μ (CV − γ5 CA )un (pn ), (1.46)

where CV = Vud F1 (0) and CA = Vud GA (0). By using such an expression and in
the limit of very large nucleon mass (keeping fixed m ≡ mn − mp ), known as
16 The basics of neutrino physics

the Born limit, one gets the prediction for neutron lifetime
   m
−1 G2F CV2 + 3CA2 me m 2  2 1
τn = 3
m 5
e d   −  −1 2 . (1.47)
2π 1 me
Inserting the value of the vector coupling CV = Vud = 0.97425±0.00022 and for
the ratio CA /CV = −1.2701±0.0025 (Beringer et al., 2012) deduced from the
study of the decay product angular distribution in neutron decay, we obtain τn 
exp
961 s, which has to be compared with the experimental result τn = 880.1 ± 1.1 s
(Beringer et al., 2012). The Born limit gives too high a value for the neutron lifetime,
the difference being on the order of 10%. A similar level of approximation is also
expected for the other reaction rates (1.38), because they are all mediated by the
same interaction Hamiltonian. We will say more about this in Chapter 4.

1.3.2 Dirac and Majorana masses

As we will discuss in the following, a large number of experimental results since
the pioneering Homestake experiment led by Ray Davis in the late 1960s have
accumulated impressive evidence that the three active neutrinos νe , νμ and ντ
undergo flavour oscillations and (at least two of them) have nonzero mass. On the
other hand, the energy spectrum of the electron emitted in the β-decay of tritium
puts an upper bound on neutrino mass scale which is currently on the order of 2 eV;
see later.
The nature of the masses of neutrinos and their small values compared with the
masses of the charged lepton partners have been puzzling theoretical physicists
for decades and are still an open problem. There is, however, a class of simple
and elegant mechanisms which have been proposed, the so-called seesaw, which
is rooted in the idea that neutrino masses are the effect at low energy of some new
physics related to a mass scale higher than the electroweak breaking parameter,
given by the Higgs vev v. A closely related issue is to understand if neutrinos
coincide with their antiparticles or not, in other words, if they are Majorana or
Dirac fermions. We review here the main concepts which we think the reader should
become familiar with (if not already) and which will be used in the following. Much
more detailed analysis can be found in several review papers and books (see, e.g.,
Giunti and Kim, 2007).

Dirac mass
A Dirac mass term for neutrinos can be introduced in the SM as for quarks or
charged leptons. To this end, it is enough to add three right-handed neutrino fields
ναR with α = e, μ, τ which are sterile, in the sense that they are singlet under the
whole gauge group and are not interacting with all other particles. Yet their role
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