Minimal scenarios for leptogenesis and<i>CP</i>violation

The relation between leptogenesis and CP violation at low energies is analyzed in detail in the framework of the minimal seesaw mechanism. Working, without loss of generality, in a weak basis where both the charged lepton and the right-handed Majorana mass matrices are diagonal and real, we consider a convenient generic parametrization of the Dirac neutrino Yukawa coupling matrix and identify the necessary condition which has to be satisfied in order to establish a direct link between leptogenesis and CP violation at low energies. In the context of the LMA solution of the solar neutrino problem, we present minimal scenarios which allow for the full determination of the cosmological baryon asymmetry and the strength of CP violation in neutrino oscillations. Some specific realizations of these minimal scenarios are considered. The question of the relative sign between the baryon asymmetry and CP violation at low energies is also discussed.