Abstract:
In recent years, a new understanding has emerged that lepton number may be a discrete remnant of a gauge symmetry and yet neutrinos are strictly Dirac particles. It is further realized that this may be intimately connected to the symmetry which maintains the stability of dark matter. I will discuss these new insights and offer two recent specific example.
Brief Bio:
Prof. Ernest Ma received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Particle Physics in 1970 from University of California, Irvine. He had research associate positions at various Universities before joining the University of Hawaii in 1977 as an Assistant Professor. He became a full professor there in 1985. From 1987 to present he has been a Professor (and Department Chair 1995-98) at the University of California, Riverside, CA.
Prof. Ma has 403 publications in international refereed journals, including 40 Physical Review Letters, of which 19 are single-authored. He has over 17,700 journal citations and is listed by INSPIRE among the all-time highly cited theory authors. Prof. Ma became a Fellow of the American Physical Society since 1996, and named as one of the inaugural Outstanding Referees of APS journals in 2008.