A right-handed neutrino is a singlet of the entire Standard Model gauge group. Its same-chirality bilinear with the field obtained by charge conjugation therefore admits the displayed renormalizable Majorana mass term, in addition to a Higgs-induced Dirac mass term. It violates lepton number by two units. Analogous terms for electrically charged Standard Model fermions carry nonzero electric charge; quarks also have nontrivial color charge. The presence of a right-handed field permits mass but does not force a nonzero mass parameter.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 49 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let , so . Direct multiplication of the Pauli matrices gives , equivalently . For this impliesTherefore transforms as the same weak fundamental representation doublet as , while complex conjugation reverses its hypercharge to . This is the Higgs conjugate doublet. The Yukawa coupling product is an singlet, and its hypercharges add toIt is consequently gauge-invariant and can supply an up-quark mass.
In unitary gauge, . Writing for the full arbitrary coefficient of the Yukawa coupling term, its physical form isA one-generation field rephasing makes the mass positive, and its Higgs boson coupling is . The printed Yukawa expression has an additional trailing after which is never defined. If it denotes a constant, absorb it into ; in the conventional dimensionless Yukawa notation without that factor, . It does not affect the gauge-transformation argument.
For three families, use a singular value decomposition of the two mass matrices: and , with positive diagonal entries. The original left-handed weak current then becomes a current between mass eigenstates withA complex matrix has eighteen real parameters, and imposes nine independent real conditions, leaving nine. A generic unitary matrix can be built from three complex plane rotations and three diagonal phases: each plane rotation supplies one angle and one phase. Thus these are three rotation angles and six phases. Rephase each of the six Dirac quark mass eigenfields, applying the same phase to its two chiralities so the diagonal masses stay real. A common phase changes no entry of , leaving five effective rephasings. Removing five of the six phases leaves three angles and one physical phase. This CKM parameter counting assumes generic nondegenerate masses; degeneracies give additional basis freedom.
Exactly massless neutrinos have an arbitrary unitary flavor rotation that changes no mass term. After diagonalizing the charged-lepton mass matrix, choose the neutrino basis with the same left-handed rotation. The apparent lepton charged-current mixing matrix becomes the identity. Thus mixing of exactly massless neutrinos is removable; it is not an analogue of physical CKM mixing.
For the requested CP symmetry calculation, write . The supplied charge conjugation transformations, with the fermion-reordering sign, giveFor , use and the given gamma matrix relation to obtainUnder parity, the current acquires the Lorentz parity matrix and becomes . Under charge conjugation the charged vector also changes sign and becomes its conjugate. The two minus signs cancel, and the parity matrices cancel in the contracted operator. ConsequentlyWith , the interaction is . Thereforewith the transformed density evaluated at . This is the CP transformation of a charged quark current.
Physical noninvariance requires a phase that cannot be removed by quark rephasings. The invariant quartetis the Jarlskog invariant, where and in the standard three-angle parametrization. If , no allowed row/column phases can make the matrix real, and the charged-current interaction violates CP symmetry. For example all three angles with give .
The printed noninvariance claim is conditional on a nonzero physical phase. Arbitrary Yukawa matrices do not force it: , or any real CKM matrix, gives a CP-invariant charged-current interaction. The correct statement is generic CP violation when the irreducible phase is nontrivial, as explained by quark rephasing and CP conservation.
Finally a right-handed neutrino has gauge representation . Its Lorentz-invariant same-chirality bilinear with the field obtained by charge conjugation is therefore a gauge singlet and permits a Majorana mass term, conventionallyThe factor is the usual convention for a field paired with itself; it may be absorbed into the printed coefficient. A Higgs Yukawa interaction can independently give a Dirac mass term. The Majorana term violates lepton number by two units but preserves the gauge symmetries. Corresponding terms for the other charged Standard Model fermions carry nonzero electric charge, and quarks also carry nontrivial color charge. Thus this gauge-invariant right-handed neutrino Majorana mass is allowed while those charged-fermion analogues are forbidden. Merely introducing a right-handed neutrino permits mass; vanishing mass coefficients would still leave it massless.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 53 2 b Solution 2026-10-14
The matrix is antisymmetric, so the scalar Majorana spinor bilinear is not identically zero. For example, choose two independent odd Grassmann variables at a pair of indices with . Their contribution is , which is nonzero as a Grassmann polynomial. This is why a Majorana mass term is possible.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 55 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
R-parity is the multiplicative quantum numberwhere are baryon number, lepton number and spin. Ordinary Standard Model particles have and their superpartners have . Gauge invariance alone allows MSSM superpotential terms , , and . Simultaneous baryon- and lepton-number violation can induce rapid proton decay. Exact R-parity forbids these renormalizable terms, since the associated matter parity is odd; it does not forbid every higher-dimensional proton-decay operator, for example .
Two consequences are superpartner production in pairs from ordinary-particle initial states and stability of the lightest supersymmetric particle: a single parity-odd particle cannot decay only into parity-even particles. Cascades therefore end in the lightest supersymmetric particle; if it is neutral and weakly interacting, it produces missing-energy signatures.
A continuous R-symmetry rotates and the supercharges. With , the superpotential has R-charge two and the fermion in a chiral superfield has one less charge than its scalar. R-parity is only a discrete restriction, represented by combining matter parity with , and need not preserve a full continuous R-symmetry. For example, a gaugino Majorana mass term violates an unbroken continuous R-symmetry but preserves R-parity. Thus proton protection by parity and continuous R-charge selection rules are distinct requirements.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 42 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A two-component Weyl spinor is a complex spinor transforming in one of the two inequivalent group representations and of the Lorentz spinor double cover . An undotted left-handed field transforms by a matrix ; its complex conjugate transforms by . Dotted and undotted indices distinguish the two chirality representations. Raising a dotted index uses the invariant epsilon tensor and converts the complex conjugate transformation into the equivalent inverse-adjoint form. Rotations act by the same SU(2) generators on the two chiralities, while boosts have opposite generators, so the two complex representations cannot be identified by a complex-linear Lorentz invariant map.
The antisymmetric invariant tensors and raise and lower spinor indices; proves invariance of the contracted bilinear . The components of a fermionic Weyl spinor are odd Grassmann variables, so this bilinear is symmetric under exchange of the two spinors: the antisymmetric epsilon sign cancels the Grassmann sign. In particular, choosing and gives , generally nonzero. This Weyl spinor bilinear exchange identity permits a Majorana mass term for a single suitable Weyl spinor. With mostly-minus metric signature and , the free massless kinetic term is , and its field equation of motion is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 42 4 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For two independent left-handed Weyl spinors and , a Dirac mass term isThe four-component Dirac field has independent particle and antiparticle degrees of freedom; after a phase redefinition making real, the same term is . The two left-handed spinors can carry opposite charges under a conserved U(1) symmetry, , . A gauge-invariant Dirac mass term contracts conjugate gauge group representations.
For one left-handed Weyl spinor, a Majorana mass term instead has the formIts self-contraction need not vanish, by the Weyl spinor bilinear exchange identity. The factor avoids double counting identical fields in variation. The associated four-component Majorana fermion satisfies , so its particle is its own antiparticle. A Majorana mass term breaks continuous fermion-number phase symmetry for , and is allowed only if its gauge indices admit an invariant symmetric contraction, as for a neutral field or a real gauge group representation. An isolated field of nonzero U(1) charge cannot have it. More generally, the mass matrix of several left-handed Weyl spinors is symmetric, since .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 45 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take and the hypercharge generator on the scalar. The two commuting factors of the electroweak interaction have independent invariant gauge kinetic terms and therefore independent coupling constants. Non-Abelian gauge invariance requires the same for all three generators, while the factor has its own ; no symmetry of this product group requires .
A nonzero Higgs doublet can be rotated by toThe fundamental representation acts transitively on normalized complex doublets, so this fixes an internal direction without changing the vacuum norm. A general infinitesimal generator annihilates this vacuum only ifFor real parameters this means and . Thus the connected stabilizer subgroup is one-dimensional:This proves the claimed electroweak symmetry breaking and identifies the unbroken electric charge generator.
The gauge covariant derivative isWriting the connection as , its local transformation is . Direct substitution gives . Unitarity then provesso the scalar kinetic term is gauge-invariant.
At the constant vacuum the gauge covariant derivative becomesConsequentlywhere andThe factor is the canonical real-vector mass-term normalization; the displayed electroweak doublet gauge-boson mass matrix contains squared masses when the gauge kinetic terms are canonical.
The electric charge generator acts on gauge fields through the Adjoint representation, not through the scalar's two-by-two matrix. With , the brackets and give , , and neutral . Hence the electromagnetic charge matrix of electroweak gauge fields in the requested basis isChoose positive gauge couplings by the gauge-field sign convention. Set and . The Weinberg angle rotation diagonalizes the neutral block, while obey . The physical electroweak gauge bosons areThe charges are in units of . Thus the tree-level electroweak gauge-boson masses satisfy , and the unbroken photon is massless.
The electron and neutrino form the left-chiral lepton doublet, while the right-chiral electron is a weak singlet. In four-component notation use chiral projectors and packageHere each entry can be obtained by projecting a Dirac field; only the indicated chirality propagates. The hypercharges follow from : gives , and gives . The minimal theory has no right-handed neutrino.
The gauge-invariant lepton kinetic Lagrangian isIf unprojected Dirac spinors are used as notation instead, insert in the first kinetic term and in the second. The inactive components are not additional physical degrees of freedom. Each term is invariant because the gauge covariant derivative transforms in the same gauge group representation as its field.
No bare Dirac mass term is possible: and vanish by opposite adjoint projectors, while a cross term has an uncontracted weak-doublet index and hypercharge . A neutrino Dirac mass would additionally require the absent right-handed field. A Majorana mass term pairs a chiral field with itself; has hypercharge and has , so neither is invariant. These statements concern quadratic masses before electroweak symmetry breaking, not masses involving scalar insertions.
For the Higgs conjugate doublet, put . The given identity exponentiates to for . ThereforeIn particular its weak isospin remains while its hypercharge reverses. Since , both and transform in the trivial representation of the full gauge group. They remain a Lorentz spinor and its adjoint; gauge singlet does not mean Lorentz scalar.
Finally the Yukawa interactionis gauge invariant: the first term has total hypercharge , and its doublet indices are contracted. At the Higgs field vacuum it becomes . Rephase to make the coefficient real and positive and assemble . ThenThis explicitly generates the gauge-invariant electron Yukawa mass, without a bare mass in the unbroken theory.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 56 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use mostly-plus Lorentzian signature and , with antisymmetrized gamma products of unit weight. A Majorana spinor obeys a reality condition under charge conjugation:A Weyl spinor instead has definite chirality,A four-dimensional Majorana spinor has four real components, while a Weyl spinor has two complex components. Charge conjugation reverses chirality in this signature, so a nonzero spinor cannot satisfy both conditions simultaneously.
For the Dirac equation , the derivative term reverses chirality because anticommutes with every gamma matrix, whereas the mass term preserves it. Projecting a purely chiral spinor equation onto its two chiralities therefore gives both and . Thus a nonzero four-component Weyl spinor satisfying this uncoupled Dirac equation must be massless. A Majorana spinor contains conjugate opposite-chirality components and can have a nonzero mass. Its charge-conjugation reality condition identifies particle and antiparticle operators, so a Majorana particle is its own antiparticle. A Weyl field does not by itself impose that identification.
This does not forbid writing a Majorana mass term for a neutral two-component Weyl field: such a term couples the field to its conjugate, and the resulting four-component massive field is Majorana, not a purely chiral solution of the uncoupled Dirac equation.
For the Rarita-Schwinger field, set and . The antisymmetric kinetic operator is invariant underbecause commuting derivatives contract to zero against . Expanding its gamma product givesGamma contraction gives , so the equation implies and .
For a Fourier mode with momentum , if the latter identity gives . The mode is proportional to and hence pure gauge. Every physical nonzero-momentum mode therefore has . For a null mode, choose an index with . The same equation makes an element of the image of , allowing a gauge choice with . The field equations then reduce toResidual gauge transformations obey .
Take a null momentum in the third spatial direction. Residual gauge freedom and transversality remove the temporal and longitudinal vector components, leaving two transverse vector polarizations. Their helicities are , while on-shell spinor helicities are . The gamma-trace constraint removes the two combinations of total helicity and retains the aligned combinations of helicity . Explicitly, in a chiral representation the transverse gamma contractions use , which annihilate the correspondingly aligned spin states and act nontrivially on the opposite states. Thus a Majorana Rarita-Schwinger field has two physical massless polarizations. The Majorana assumption is the one relevant to simple supergravity; a complex vector-spinor has these helicities for its particle and independent antiparticle modes.
A consistent free massive deformation is the algebraic termadded to a kinetic term . Its equation isFor , divergence and gamma contraction give, respectively,These imply the massive Rarita-Schwinger constraints and , and the remaining equation is . Squaring gives in the chosen signature. The gauge symmetry is lost. In the rest frame, transversality sets the temporal component to zero; three spatial vector components times two on-shell spinor states give six states, and gamma trace removes the two spin-one-half states. The result is four massive spin- states, with spin projections . In supergravity the additional longitudinal states can be supplied by the super-Higgs mechanism.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 305 1 vi Solution 2026-09-28
The unique dimension-five operator built solely from Standard Model fields is the Weinberg operatorwhich gives a Majorana mass term after the Higgs condenses. A dimension-six example that mediates proton decay iswith Lorentz and weak indices contracted appropriately; is another. Their dimensions explain why neutrino masses are tiny and proton decay is rare: both probe a high scale, while the stronger proton-lifetime bound places especially severe constraints on baryon-number violation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 305 2 f Solution 2026-09-28
Adding gauge-singlet right-handed neutrinos permits the Dirac Yukawa couplingwhich gives . Because carries no Standard Model gauge charge, a Majorana mass term is also allowed. For , the seesaw mechanism produces light neutrino masses of order .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 301 4 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The identities and show respectively that the kinetic term and both mass bilinears are Lorentz invariant. Infinitesimally, the first identity makes transform by the vector law stated in the question, while the second makes a scalar.
Varying the anticommuting components of givesThe factor two from varying the antisymmetric quadratic form cancels the in the mass term. This is a Majorana mass term: under it carries charge , so a nonzero mass is compatible with an unbroken electric charge only for . A charged massive fermion instead needs an independent Weyl field of opposite chirality to form a Dirac mass.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 305 4 Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
In the convention , one Standard Model fermion generation including a right-handed neutrino isA bare Dirac mass term pairs left- and right-handed fields in the same gauge representation, but every charged left-handed Standard Model fermion is an doublet while its right-handed partner is a singlet. The Higgs field and permit the gauge-invariant Yukawa interactionsThe neutral Higgs vacuum expectation value turns them into masses after electroweak symmetry breaking.
Because is a gauge singlet, it may also have a large Majorana mass term . Together with its Dirac mass , the seesaw mechanism gives a light neutrino mass . If no right-handed neutrino is retained, the same low-energy physics is encoded by the dimension-five Weinberg operator .
Now let be an electroweak scalar triplet with . Its weights are , and electric charge is , so its components have chargesIn the given matrix convention,Thus the electromagnetic-neutral direction satisfies and .
The gauge-invariant type-II seesaw mechanism Yukawa interaction isThe two lepton doublets have total hypercharge , which is cancelled by , and the displayed contraction is a singlet. Expanding it containsTherefore a neutral condensate preserves electromagnetism and generates a left-handed-neutrino Majorana mass term proportional to .
Seesaw mechanism Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The type-I seesaw mechanism combines a Dirac neutrino mass with a much larger right-handed-neutrino Majorana mass term . Diagonalizing the mass matrix gives a light eigenvalue of order and a heavy eigenvalue of order .
Type-II seesaw mechanism 2026-09-24
The type-II seesaw mechanism couples two lepton doublets to an electroweak scalar triplet. A small neutral-triplet vacuum expectation value directly generates a left-handed neutrino Majorana mass term.