Neutrinos and the structure of space-time

Abstract

The phenomenon of neutrino oscillations is studied usually as a mixing between the flavor neutrinos and the neutrinos having a definite mass. The mixing angles and the mass eigenvalues are treated independently in order to accommodate the experimental data. We suggest that neutrino oscillations are connected to the structure of spacetime. We expand on a recently proposed model, where two ?mirror? branes coexist. One brane hosts left-handed particles (our brane), while the other brane hosts right-handed particles. Majorana-type couplings mixes neutrinos in an individual brane, while Dirac-type couplings mixes neutrinos across the brares. We first focus our attention in a single brane. The mass matrix, determined by the Majorana mass, leads to mass eigenstates and further to mixing angles identical to the mixing angles proposed by the tri-bimaximal mixing. When we include the Dirac-type coupling, connecting the two branes, we obtain a definite prediction for the transition to a sterile neutrino (righthanded neutrino). With mL (mR) the Majorana mass for the left (right) brane, we are able to explain the solar and the atmospheric neutrino data with mL = 2mR and mR = 10-2 eV.