Theory prospective on leptonic CP violation

Abstract

The phenomenology of 3-neutrino mixing, the current status of our knowledge about the 3-neutrino mixing parameters, including the absolute neutrino mass scale, and of the Dirac and Majorana CP violation in the lepton sector are reviewed. The problems of CP violation in neutrino oscillations and of determining the nature – Dirac or Majorana – of massive neutrinos are discussed. The seesaw mechanism of neutrino mass generation and the related leptogenesis scenario of generation of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe are considered. The results showing that the CP violation necessary for the generation of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe in leptogenesis can be due exclusively to the Dirac and/or Majorana CP-violating phase(s) in the neutrino mixing matrix U are briefly reviewed. The discrete symmetry approach to understanding the observed pattern of neutrino mixing and the related predictions for the leptonic Dirac CP violation are also reviewed.