Within the framework of the survival hypothesis for Higgs scalars we comprehensively examine the following question: could there be neutron-antineutron oscillations in SO(10) grand unified theories which would be detectable in the forthcoming experiments? In the process of answering this, we critically discuss and supplement the existing knowledge of the relevant patterns of SO(10) symmetry breakdown in relation to the said oscillations. However, our conclusions are negative with the oscillation period being 10²⁵ years or higher.

Results for solar neutrino detection from the SuperKamiokande collaboration have been presented recently while those from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are expected in the near future. These experiments are sensitive to the⁸B neutrinos from the sun, the shape of whose spectrum is well-known but the normalization is less certain. We propose several variables, insensitive to the absolute flux of the incident beam, which probe the shape of the observed spectrum and can sensitively signal neutrino oscillations. They provide methods to extract the neutrino mixing angle and mass splitting from the data and also to distinguish oscillation to sequential neutrinos from those to a sterile neutrino.

A brief introduction to the phenomena of vacuum neutrino oscillations and resonant flavour conversion is presented with a heavy pedagogic leaning. Variants of these ideas, e.g., neutrino helicity flip in a magnetic field, violation of the equivalence principle, etc. are outlined. A few vexing issues pertaining to the quantum mechanics of neutrino oscillations are discussed. Expectations from some of the future experiments are summarized.

This report summarises the work done in the ‘Beyond the Standard Model’ working group of the Sixth Workshop on High Energy Physics Phenomenology (WHEPP-6) held at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, Jan 3–15, 2000. The participants in this working group were: R Adhikari, B Ananthanarayan, K P S Balaji, Gour Bhattacharya, Gautam Bhattacharyya, Chao-Hsi Chang (Zhang). D Choudhury, Amitava Datta, Anindya Datta, Asesh K Datta, A Dighe, N Gaur, D Ghosh, A Goyal, K Kar, S F King, Anirban Kundu, U Mahanta, R N Mohapatra, B Mukhopadhyaya, S Pakvasa, P N Pandita, M K Parida, P Poulose, G Raffelt, G Rajasekaran, S Rakshit, Asim K Ray, A Raychaudhuri, S Raychaudhuri, D P Roy, P Roy, S Roy, K Sridhar and S Vempati.

We have identified some important and worthwhile physics opportunities with a possible neutrino detector located in India. Particular emphasis is placed on the geographical advantage with a stress on the complimentary aspects with respect to other neutrino detectors already in operation.

This is the report of neutrino and astroparticle physics working group at WHEPP-7. Discussions and work on CP violation in long baseline neutrino experiments, ultra high energy neutrinos, supernova neutrinos and water Cerenkov detectors are discussed.

𝜃₁₃ is small compared to the other neutrino mixing angles. The solar mass splitting is about two orders smaller than the atmospheric splitting. We indicate how both could arise from a perturbation of a more symmetric structure. The perturbation also affects the solar mixing angle and can tweak alternate mixing patterns such as tribimaximal, bimaximal, or other variants to viability. For real perturbations only normal mass ordering with the lightest neutrino mass less than 10⁻² eV can accomplish this goal. Both mass orderings can be accommodated by going over to complex perturbations if the lightest neutrino is heavier. The CP-phase in the lepton sector, fixed by 𝜃₁₃ and the lightest neutrino mass, distinguishes different options.

The upcoming 50 kt magnetized iron calorimeter (ICAL) detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is designed to study the atmospheric neutrinos and antineutrinos separately over a wide range of energies andpath lengths. The primary focus of this experiment is to explore the Earth matter effects by observing the energy and zenith angle dependence of the atmospheric neutrinos in the multi-GeV range. This study will be crucial toaddress some of the outstanding issues in neutrino oscillation physics, including the fundamental issue of neutrino mass hierarchy. In this document, we present the physics potential of the detector as obtained from realistic detector simulations.We describe the simulation framework, the neutrino interactions in the detector, and the expected responseof the detector to particles traversing it. The ICAL detector can determine the energy and direction of the muons to a high precision, and in addition, its sensitivity to multi-GeV hadrons increases its physics reach substantially. Itscharge identification capability, and hence its ability to distinguish neutrinos from antineutrinos, makes it an efficient detector for determining the neutrino mass hierarchy. In this report, we outline the analyses carried out for the determination of neutrino mass hierarchy and precision measurements of atmospheric neutrino mixing parameters at ICAL, and give the expected physics reach of the detector with 10 years of runtime. We also explore the potential of ICAL for probing new physics scenarios like CPT violation and the presence of magnetic monopoles.