Leptogenesis from heavy right-handed neutrino decay

Neutrino oscillation experiments have provided compelling evidence for nonzero neutrino masses. The simplest and arguably most plausible explanation for the smallness of neutrino masses consists in adding to the particle spectrum of the Standard Model heavy right-handed neutrinos, with a Majorana mass term that breaks lepton number by two units. Notably, the out-of-equilibrium decay of the heavy neutrinos in the very first stages of our Universe could also provide an explanation to the observed cosmic matter–antimatter asymmetry. Here, we review the mechanism of leptogenesis through the decay of heavy right-handed neutrinos and its connection to low energy neutrino experiments. (author)