SOME ASPECTS OF CHIRALITY




Fermion masses and chiral p-forms

This thesis consists of the following five papers and an introduction to the subject. The introduction consists of a first rather non-technical account, followed by a more formal part. The sections 7 - 12 are those directly pertaining to the articles.

1. Cecilia Jarlskog and Astri Kleppe:
Measurables of the quark mixing matrix as invariant functions of mass matrices
Nucl. Phys. B286, 245 (1987)

2. Astri Kleppe:
Parametrization of the fermionic mass spectra:
Phys. Rev. D48, 5323 (1993)

3. Ingemar Bengtsson and Astri Kleppe:
On Chiral P-forms
USITP 96-12, to be published in Int. J. Mod. Phys. A

4. Cecilia Jarlskog and Astri Kleppe:
Extending the Standard Model by including right-handed neutrinos
Lund-Mph-97/05

5. Astri Kleppe:
Neutrino mass matrices with a democratic texture
Lund-Mph-97/06. Submitted for publication

CONTENTS








1 . The riddle of transformation...............................3
2. Enlightened science.............................................15
3. Classical mechanics.............................................27
4. Quantum mechanics............................................32
5. Symmetry............................................................34
6. Quantum field theory..........................................41
7. Gauge symmetry.................................................45
8. Chirality and duality...........................................52
9. Nuclear interactions............................................60
10. The Standard Model...........................................65
11. Masses.................................................................74
12. Neutrino masses..................................................79
13. The forms of substance.......................................85
14. Acknowledgements..............................................86