Neutrino: chronicles of an aloof protagonist

TL;DR

This paper reviews the history and significance of neutrinos, emphasizing their potential to reveal new physics beyond the Standard Model through the Minimal Left-Right Symmetric theory.

Contribution

It advocates for the Minimal Left-Right Symmetric theory as the best framework to understand neutrino mass and parity violation, linking neutrino physics to fundamental symmetries.

Findings

Neutrino mass suggests physics beyond the Standard Model.

The Minimal Left-Right Symmetric theory connects neutrino mass with parity breakdown.

The theory provides testable predictions for current and near-future experiments.

Abstract

We give a brief account of the history of neutrino, and how that most aloof of all particles has shaped our search for a theory of fundamental interactions ever since it was theoretically proposed. We introduce the necessary concepts and phenomena in a non-technical language aimed at a physicist with some basic knowledge of quantum mechanics. In showing that neutrino mass could be the door to new physics beyond the Standard Model, we emphasize the need to frame the issue in the context of a complete theory, with testable predictions accessible to present and near future experiments. We argue in favor of the Minimal Left-Right Symmetric theory as the strongest candidate for such theory, connecting neutrino mass with parity breakdown in nature. This is the theory that led originally to neutrino mass and the seesaw mechanism behind its smallness, but even more important, the theory that sheds light on a fundamental question that touches us all: the symmetry between left and right.