Powered by Indico
v3.2.3
Abstract:
The nature of neutrinos and the mechanism of generating their tiny masses are among the most important unknowns in fundamental physics. Being the only electrically neutral fermions in the Standard Model, neutrinos can be of Majorana nature, i.e., particle and antiparticle are indistinguishable. As such, any U(1) quantum number carried by a Majorana fermion will be violated and in the context of the Standard Model, Majorana neutrinos will break total lepton number, an otherwise accidental global symmetry. I will discuss scenarios beyond the Standard Model where Majorana neutrinos are realized, as well as scenarios that incorporate so-called quasi-Dirac Majorana states. As the most important probe of Majorana neutrinos, I will focus on neutrinoless double beta decay as the crucial signature, and I will discuss the latest theoretical and experimental developments.
Biography:
RESEARCH INTERESTS
SUBJECT AREA Theoretical Particle Physics
RESEARCH TOPICS Physics beyond the Standard Model, Model building and phenomenology, Neutrinos, Lepton number and flavour violation, High energy colliders, Supersymmetry, Grand unified theories, Effective field theories, Cosmology
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
OCT 2019 – Professor, University College London (UCL, UK)
SEP 2015 – SEP 2019 Associate Professor, UCL
JAN 2011 – AUG 2015 Lecturer (Assistant Professor), UCL
OCT 2007 – JAN 2011 Post-doctoral Research Associate, U. of Manchester (UK)
SEP 2005 – SEP 2007 Post-doctoral Research Fellow, DESY Hamburg (Germany)
MAY 2003 – NOV 2003 Marie Curie Fellow, IFIC Valencia (Spain)
JAN 2001 – AUG 2005 Research Assistant, U. of Würzburg (Germany)