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I can't seem find this on the Internet. What does the Majorana equation predict neutrino masses to be (if they were their own antiparticle), and how? (I have little understanding of spinors, btw...)

Bonus question: Also, on a similar note, what properties have to be zero in order for a particle to be its own antiparticle?

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  • $\begingroup$ you get that a particle is its own antiparticle if you assume that the field is real. $\endgroup$ – Phoenix87 Mar 4 '15 at 17:32
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  • There is no well established theory predicting the neutrino mass (even if of Majorana type).
  • A particle is its own anti-particle if the field describing the particle is a real field. That means obviously that the electric charge is 0 but not necessarily that other charges are zero. For instance, if the neutrinos are Majorana neutrinos, they would still have $SU(2)_L$ charge (weak isospin charge).
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  • $\begingroup$ Wikipedia said something about if the neutrinos are their own antiparticles, then their masses can be calculated. $\endgroup$ – Damon Blevins Mar 4 '15 at 20:27
  • $\begingroup$ You should give a link to the corresponding page. It probably refers to the so-called "see-saw" mechanism which just "explains" why neutrinos mass is tiny by introducing very heavy new right-handed neutrinos. Anyway, the mass remains unknown if you don't know the mass of these heavy neutrinos. The masses are still free parameters. $\endgroup$ – Paganini Mar 4 '15 at 21:36
  • $\begingroup$ It was the article about Neutrinos in $\endgroup$ – Damon Blevins Mar 5 '15 at 0:48
  • $\begingroup$ On Wikipedia. The section about mass. $\endgroup$ – Damon Blevins Mar 5 '15 at 0:48

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