Abstract (eng)
The observations of neutrino oscillations verify the existence of small but nonzero neutrino masses. However, in the Standard Model of particle physics neutrinos are assumed massless, since only left-handed neutrinos and right-handed antineutrinos can be observed in weak decays and cross sections. The subject of this master thesis is the implementation of neutrino masses in the Standard Model by means of the seesaw mechanism of type I. The particle content of the Standard Model is being extended by heavy right-handed neutrinos and additional scalar doublets. After a general discussion on Dirac, Majorana and hybrid mass terms, the seesaw mechanism type I is formulated for an arbitrary number of left and right-handed neutrinos and for an arbitrary number of scalar doublets. Since even after this procedure some left-handed neutrinos might remain massless, radiative corrections to the seesaw mechanism, in particular one-loop corrections, are considered. After a general discussion of dominant one-loop corrections to the seesaw mechanism, this knowledge is applied to two different models. In the first model, which is based on the standard gauge group SU(2)xU(1), the mass correction for the left-handed neutrinos is derived explicitly. Afterwards, the special case of a minimal extension within this model is considered. In the second model, the so-called scotogenic model, an additional exact Z_2-symmetry is introduced, which causes the left-handed neutrinos to acquire mass only at one-loop level. After the discussion of the minimal extension, this model is generalized for arbitrary numbers of left and right-handed neutrinos, as well as a scalar doublet. In particular, the correspondence of non-vanishing neutrino masses and terms in the scalar potential is outlined.