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Symmetry 2010, 2(4), 1776-1809; doi:10.3390/sym2041776

Article

A Direct Road to Majorana Fields

Andreas Aste

Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, 4056 Basel, Switzerland

Received: 1 October 2010; in revised form: 18 October 2010 / Accepted: 22 October 2010 / Published: 27 October 2010

Download PDF Full-Text [384 KB, uploaded 27 October 2010 16:49 CEST]

Abstract: A concise discussion of spin-1/2 field equations with a special focus on Majorana spinors is presented. The Majorana formalism which describes massive neutral fermions by the help of two-component or four-component spinors is of fundamental importance for the understanding of mathematical aspects of supersymmetric and other extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics, which may play an increasingly important role at the beginning of the LHC era. The interplay between the two-component and the four-component formalism is highlighted in an introductory way. Majorana particles are predicted both by grand unified theories, in which these particles are neutrinos, and by supersymmetric theories, in which they are photinos, gluinos and other states.

Keywords: symmetry and conservation laws; non-standard-model neutrinos; real and complex spinor representations

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