THE PROBLEM OF NEUTRINO MASSES IN EXTENSIONS OF THE STANDARD MODEL

Abstract

We review the problem of neutrino masses and mixings in the context of grand unified theories. After a brief summary of the present experimental status of neutrino physics, we describe how the see-saw mechanism can automatically account for the large atmospheric mixing angle. We provide two specific examples where this possibility is realized by means of a flavor symmetry. We then review in some detail the various severe problems which plague minimal GUT models (like the doublet–triplet splitting and proton-decay) and which force us to investigate the possibility of constructing more elaborate but realistic models. We then show an example of a quasirealistic SUSY SU(5) model which, by exploiting the crucial presence of an Abelian flavor symmetry, does not require any fine-tuning and predicts a satisfactory phenomenology with respect to coupling unification, fermion masses and mixings and bounds from proton decay.