Wednesday, 13 December 2017

particle physics - Neutrinos and anti-neutrinos in the Standard Model


In standard model neutrinos and the left handed electron forms SU(2) doublet.




  1. What about the anti-neutrinos in the standard model? Do they also form some doublet?




  2. If neutrinos have tiny masses will it not imply indirectly and conclusively that right-handed neutrinos must exist in nature?





EDIT : Neutrinos will have Majorana mass term if they are Majorana fermion. Is that right? Now, if neutrinos are Majorana fermions, will they have definite handedness? For example, does νM=(νLiσ2νL) have definite handedness? Therefore, doesn't it imply that if neutrinos are massive then a right-handed component of it (0iσ2νL) must exist? Although we are not using νR to construct this column, does it imply νM do not have a right handed component? It is the column νM which we should call a neutrino. Then it has both the components. However, one can say that a purely right-handed neutrino need not exist if the neutrino is a Majorana fermion. Therefore, it seems that if neutrinos are massive a right handed component of it must exist (be it a Dirac particle as well as a Majorana particle). Correct me if I am wrong.



Answer



The antineutrinos do indeed form a doublet. The particle-antiparticle conjugation operator is usually denoted by ˆC and is defined through: ˆC:ψψc=CˉψT

where Ciγ2γ0. So given a neutrino you can always get its complex conjugate with this operator: νcL=iγ2γ0(¯νL)T
Its easy to check this that this antineutrino is actually right handed, by applying a left projector onto it.


The antineutrino forms a doublet with the antileptons: (νcLecL)


With regards to your second question, no having neutrino masses does not imply that there exist right handed neutrinos. This is because neutrinos could have Majorana masses (m2νLνL+h.c.) as well as Dirac masses m(¯νLνR+h.c.). Majorana masses could arise if for example there exists a heavy Higgs which is a triplet under SU(2)L (which can be rise to what's known as a type 2 See-saw mechanism).


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