Neutrinos as Precision Probes of Particle Physics, Cosmology and Astrophysics

• Applicant: Dr. Werner Rodejohann
• Subject Area: Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Fields
• Term: from 2010 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 165111547

The aim of the project is to shed light on the theoretical origin of neutrino masses and to explore their consequences in particle physics, astroparticle physics and cosmology. The precision era in neutrino physics is expected to put the proposed theoretical models to test. We will lay emphasis on the seesaw mechanism to explain small neutrino masses. The model predictions for neutrino oscillations, LHC, lepton flavor violation and leptogenesis will be studied. Concrete flavor models taking into account new data will be constructed explicitly and dark matter candidates will be identified. Renormalization group effects to relate new physics at high scale with observations at low energies will be studied. More exotic physics such as presence of light sterile neutrinos, non-standard interactions, unitarity violation, will be probed. The prospects of using neutrino telescopes to probe both neutrino properties as well as astrophysical sources will be studied.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: India
• Participating Persons: Dr. Sandhya Choubey; Dr. Scrubabati Goswami; Dr. Shamayita Ray