General Information

The aim of the workshop is to discuss Neutrino Oscillation Physics, in particular current experimental data and their theoretical interpretation; to outline future investigations; and to explore the links with various research fields in Astroparticle Physics.

The workshop will be held in the Grand Hotel Daniela at Conca Specchiulla (Otranto, Lecce, Italy), a wonderful resort  facing the Adriatic sea, from 9 to 16 September 2012.  Because of limitations in accommodation and to fulfill the workshop requirements, participation is by invitation only, and is limited to about 140 participants.

The structure of the Workshop includes five sessions, with plenary and parallel talks on several topics of current interest.
The sessions are depicted here as sectors of a "Neutrino Rose Window," inspired by the Rose Window of the Cathedral of Otranto (see descriptions in english or in italian). Architectural rose windows were meant to have both functional and symbolic purposes (i.e., to provide both sunlight and enlightening). In the NOW 2012 Workshop, the "Neutrino Rose Window" serves the purposes of displaying the session titles (outer inscriptions) and symbolizing some of their themes (inner frames and tracery):


• Session I - Absolute neutrino mass scale: "1" and "2" represent the first two mass eigenstates, whose absolute scale is still unknown;
• Session II - Oscillations at low energies: "e" and "i" represent the mixing matrix elements U_{ei}, mainly probed by low-energy experiments;
• Session III - Oscillations at high energies: "alpha" and "3" represent the mixing matrix elements U_{alpha3}, dominating high-energy neutrino oscillations;
• Session IV - Messengers of the universe: "mu" and "tau" represent muon and tau events in searches of astrophysical high-energy neutrinos;
• Session V - Messengers of new physics: "s" and "N" represent sterile and heavy neutrinos hypothesized in several theories beyond the standard model.

The upper inscription "Neutrino Oscillation Workshop MMXII" embraces the symbols "L" and "R", representing left-handed and right-handed neutrino states. The columns' corinthian capitals are decorated with "nu" symbols (instead of traditional acanthus leaves), surmounted by a flat top which symbolizes the "bar" for antineutrinos. Summarizing, the twelve sectors of the "Neutrino Rose Window" display known or hypothetical neutrino states (L, R, s, N), as well as states with known or generic flavor (e, mu, tau, alpha) and mass (1, 2, 3, i), grouped according to the main Workshop themes. The 12-fold (or double 6-fold) subdivision is also reminiscent of the year (2012) and of the edition (6th in Otranto) of the current NOW Workshop.