Neutrino Masses from the Top Down

Understand

General classes of mechanisms for generating small neutrino masses are surveyed from a top-down (superstring) perspective.

• In particular, string constructions have motivated various possibilities involving higher-dimensional operators, string instantons, and wave function overlaps in large or warped extra dimensions.
• These may yield small Dirac masses, Majorana masses via the Weinberg operator, or Majorana masses from a seesaw mechanism, though the latter typically differ in detail from the more conventional GUT models.
• Possibilities for mixing between light active and sterile neutrinos are surveyed.