Neutrino masses from Planck-scale lepton number breaking

Abstract

We consider an extension of the Standard Model by right-handed neutrinos and we argue that, under plausible assumptions, a neutrino mass of ${\cal O}(0.1)\,{\rm eV}$ is naturally generated by the breaking of the lepton number at the Planck scale, possibly by gravitational effects, without the necessity of introducing new mass scales in the model. Some implications of this framework are also briefly discussed.