Absolute neutrino mass scale

Neutrino oscillation experiments firmly established non-vanishing neutrino masses, a result that can be regarded as a strong motivation to extend the Standard Model. In spite of being the lightest massive particles, neutrinos likely represent an important bridge to new physics at very high energies and offer new opportunities to address some of the current cosmological puzzles, such as the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe and Dark Matter. In this context, the determination of the absolute neutrino mass scale is a key issue within modern High Energy Physics. The talks in this parallel session well describe the current exciting experimental activity aiming to determining the absolute neutrino mass scale and offer an overview of a few models beyond the Standard Model that have been proposed in order to explain the neutrino masses giving a prediction for the absolute neutrino mass scale and solving the cosmological puzzles. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.