Biography

Rabindra Mohapatra’s research interests include theory and phenomenology of neutrino masses, understanding the origin of parity in physics from beyond the standard model, strong CP problem, grand unification of forces and matter, nature and origin of dark matter, understanding flavor patterns of quarks and leptons using higher symmetries as well as origin of matter (“Baryogenesis”). He was one of the proponents of the seesaw mechanism for neutrino masses and also a proponent of the left-right symmetric theories of weak interactions. He proposed the experimental search for neutron-anti-neutron oscillation and proposed the idea of the massless particle majoron. He has authored two books: one on supersymmetry and another on neutrino masses. He has also worked on areas that question the fundamental assumptions of quantum field theory such as possible violations of Pauli exclusion principle, breakdown of electric charge conservation and Lorentz invariance. He also works on astrophysical constraints on particle physics e.g. from supernova explosion, neutron stars etc. He is a UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and Distinguished University Professor.