Search

A new U (1) gauge symmetry is the simplest extension of the Standard Model and has various theoretical and phenomenological motivations. In this paper, we study the cosmological constraint on the MeV scale dark photon. After the neutrino decoupling era at T = O(1) MeV, the decay and annihilation of the dark photon heats up the electron and photon plasma and accordingly decreases the effective number of neutrino Neff in the recombination era. We derive a conservative lower-limit of the dark photon mass around 8.5 MeV from the current Planck data if the mixing between the dark photon and ordinary photon is larger than O(10−9). We also find that the future CMB stage-IV experiments can probe up to 17 MeV dark photon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensions of the Standard Model (SM) with sterile neutrinos are well motivated from the observed oscillations of the light neutrinos and they have shown to successfully explain the Baryon Asymmetry of the Universe (BAU) through, for instance, the so-called ARS leptogenesis. Sterile neutrinos can be added in minimal ways to the SM, but many theories exist where sterile neutrinos are not the only new fields. Such theories often include scalar bosons, which brings about the possibility of further interactions between the sterile neutrinos and the SM. In this paper we consider an extension of the SM with two sterile neutrinos and one scalar singlet particle and investigate the effect that an additional, thermalised, scalar has on the ARS leptogenesis mechanism. We show that in general the created asymmetry is reduced due to additional sterile neutrino production from scalar decays. When sterile neutrinos and scalars are discovered in the laboratory, our results will provide information on the applicability of the ARS leptogenesis mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The (g − 2)μ anomaly indicates that the second generation of leptons should have new interactions beyond the standard model. The high flux of νμ and ν ¯ μ at the forward experiments such as FASERν and SND@LHC makes them suitable setups to search for new interactions of the second generation leptons. In this paper, we build a model in which the second generation left-handed leptons couple to a new right-handed neutrino, N and a new Higgs doublet which also couples to the quarks. The scattering of high energy νμ off nuclei can produce N. We investigate how forward experiments can test this model by looking for the N production vertex followed by the displaced vertex of the N decay. Discovering even a single such event can be a harbinger to look for the spectacular signals of the new Higgs doublet production at the LHC. We discuss the possibility of explaining the (g − 2)μ anomaly by adding more generations of N which will lead to chain decays of N and multiple leptons with distinct signals both at forward experiments and at the CMS and ATLAS detectors. Finally, we show that by adding a new light singlet scalar mixed with the neutral component of the new Higgs doublet (i.e., 2HDM+S model), the statistics of the data sample can be dramatically increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exchange of a pair of neutrinos between two objects, separated by a distance r, leads to a long-range effective potential proportional to 1/r5, assuming massless neutrinos and four-fermion contact interactions. In this paper, we investigate how this known form of neutrino-mediated potentials might be altered if the distance r is sufficiently short, corresponding to a sufficiently large momentum transfer which could invalidate the contact interactions. We consider two possible scenarios to open up the contact interactions by introducing a t-channel or an s-channel mediator. We derive a general formula that is valid to describe the potential in all regimes as long as the external particles remain non-relativistic. In both scenarios, the potential decreases as 1/r5 in the long-range limit as expected. In the short-range limit, the t-channel potential exhibits the Coulomb-like behavior (i.e. proportional to 1/r), while the s-channel potential exhibits 1/r4 and 1/r2 behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in searches for heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) at the LHC has increased considerably in the past few years. In the minimal scenario, HNLs are produced and decay via their mixing with active neutrinos in the Standard Model (SM) spectrum. However, many SM extensions with HNLs have been discussed in the literature, which sometimes change expectations for LHC sensitivities drastically. In the NRSMEFT, one extends the SM effective field theory with operators including SM singlet fermions, which allows to study HNL phenomenology in a "model independent" way. In this paper, we study the sensitivity of ATLAS to HNLs in the NRSMEFT for four-fermion operators with a single HNL. These operators might dominate both production and decay of HNLs, and we find that new physics scales in excess of 20 TeV could be probed at the high-luminosity LHC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Next generation neutrino oscillation experiments like DUNE and T2HK are multi-purpose observatories, with a rich physics program beyond oscillation measurements. A special role is played by their near detector facilities, which are particularly well-suited to search for weakly coupled dark sector particles produced in the primary target. In this paper, we demonstrate this by estimating the sensitivity of the DUNE near detectors to the scattering of sub-GeV DM particles and to the decay of sub-GeV sterile neutrinos ("heavy neutral leptons"). We discuss in particular the importance of the DUNE-PRISM design, which allows some of the near detectors to be moved away from the beam axis. At such off-axis locations, the signal-to-background ratio improves for many new physics searches. We find that this leads to a dramatic boost in the sensitivity to boosted DM particles interacting mainly with hadrons, while for boosted DM interacting with leptons, data taken on-axis leads to marginally stronger exclusion limits. Searches for heavy neutral leptons perform equally well in both configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a bubble filtering-out mechanism for an asymmetric dark matter scenario during the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) phase transition. Based on a QCD axion model, extended by extra chiral neutrinos, we show that the PQ phase transition can be first order in the parameter space of the model and regarding the PQ symmetry breaking scale, the mechanism can generate PeV-scale heavy neutrinos as a dark matter candidate. Considering a CP-violating source, during the phase transition, discriminating between the neutrino and antineutrino number density, we find the observed dark matter relic abundance, such that the setup can be applied to the first order phase transition with different strengths. We then calculate effective couplings of the QCD axion addressing the strong CP problem within the model. We also study the energy density spectrum of gravitational waves generated from the first order phase transition and show that the signals can be detected by future ground-based detectors such as Einstein Telescope. In particular, for a visible heavy axion case of the model, it is shown that gravitational waves can be probed by DECIGO and BBO interferometers. Furthermore, we discuss the dark matter-standard model neutrino annihilation process as a source for the creation of PeV-scale neutrinos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the leptonic flavor invariants in the minimal see-saw model (MSM), in which only two right-handed neutrino singlets are added into the Standard Model in order to accommodate tiny neutrino masses and explain cosmological matter-antimatter asymmetry via leptogenesis mechanism. For the first time, we calculate the Hilbert series (HS) for the leptonic flavor invariants in the MSM. With the HS we demonstrate that there are totally 38 basic flavor invariants, among which 18 invariants are CP-odd and the others are CP-even. Moreover, we explicitly construct these basic invariants, and any other flavor invariants in the MSM can be decomposed into the polynomials of them. Interestingly, we find that any flavor invariants in the effective theory at the low-energy scale can be expressed as rational functions of those in the full MSM at the high-energy scale. Practical applications to the phenomenological studies of the MSM, such as the sufficient and necessary conditions for CP conservation and CP asymmetries in leptogenesis, are also briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we accomplish the complete one-loop matching of the type-I seesaw model onto the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT), by integrating out three heavy Majorana neutrinos with the functional approach. It turns out that only 31 dimension-six operators (barring flavor structures and Hermitian conjugates) in the Warsaw basis of the SMEFT can be obtained, and most of them appear at the one-loop level. The Wilson coefficients of these 31 dimension-six operators are computed up to O (M−2) with M being the mass scale of heavy Majorana neutrinos. As the effects of heavy Majorana neutrinos are encoded in the Wilson coefficients of these higher-dimensional operators, a complete one-loop matching is useful to explore the low-energy phenomenological consequences of the type-I seesaw model. In addition, the threshold corrections to the couplings in the Standard Model and to the coefficient of the dimension-five operator are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, we carry out a systematic study of the flavor invariants and their renormalization-group equations (RGEs) in the leptonic sector with three generations of charged leptons and massive Majorana neutrinos. First, following the approach of the Hilbert series from the invariant theory, we show that there are 34 basic flavor invariants in the generating set, among which 19 invariants are CP-even and the others are CP-odd. Any flavor invariants can be expressed as the polynomials of those 34 basic invariants in the generating set. Second, we explicitly construct all the basic invariants and derive their RGEs, which form a closed system of differential equations as they should. The numerical solutions to the RGEs of the basic flavor invariants have also been found. Furthermore, we demonstrate how to extract physical observables from the basic invariants. Our study is helpful for understanding the algebraic structure of flavor invariants in the leptonic sector, and also provides a novel way to explore leptonic flavor structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the quest for unification of the Standard Model with gravity, classical scale invariance can be utilized to dynamically generate the Planck mass MPl. However, the relation of Planck scale physics to the scale of electroweak symmetry breaking μH requires further explanation. In this paper, we propose a model that uses the spontaneous breaking of scale invariance in the scalar sector as a unified origin for dynamical generation of both scales. Using the Gildener-Weinberg approximation, only one scalar acquires a vacuum expectation value of υS ∼ (1016−17) GeV, thus radiatively generating M P 1 ≈ β S 1 / 2 υ S and μH via the neutrino option with right handed neutrino masses mN = yMυS ∼ 107 GeV. Consequently, active SM neutrinos are given a mass with the inclusion of a type-I seesaw mechanism. Furthermore, we adopt an unbroken Z2 symmetry and a Z2-odd set of right-handed Majorana neutrinos χ that do not take part in the neutrino option and are able to produce the correct dark matter relic abundance (dominantly) via inflaton decay. The model also describes cosmic inflation and the inflationary CMB observables are predicted to interpolate between those of R2 and linear chaotic inflationary model and are thus well within the strongest experimental constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some models of leptogenesis involve a quasi-degenerate pair of heavy neutrinos N1,2 whose masses can be small, O(GeV). Such neutrinos can contribute to the rare lepton-number-violating (LNV) decay W ± → ℓ 1 ± ℓ 2 ± q ′ q ¯ ∓ . If both N1 and N2 contribute, there can be a CP-violating rate difference between the LNV decay of a W− and its CP-conjugate decay. In this paper, we examine the prospects for measuring such a CP asymmetry ACP at the LHC. We assume a value for the heavy-light neutrino mixing parameter |BℓN|2 = 10−5, which is allowed by the present experimental constraints, and consider 5 GeV ≤ MN≤ 80 GeV. We consider three versions of the LHC — HL-LHC, HE-LHC, FCC-hh — and show that small values of the CP asymmetry can be measured at 3σ, in the range 1% ≲ ACP ≲ 15%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the near future, the neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decay experiments will hopefully reach the sensitivity of a few meV to the effective neutrino mass |mββ|. In this paper, we tentatively examine the sensitivity of future 0νββ-decay experiments to neutrino masses and Majorana CP phases by following the Bayesian statistical approach. Provided experimental setups corresponding to the experimental sensitivity of |mββ| ≃ 1 meV, the null observation of 0νββ decays in the case of normal neutrino mass ordering leads to a very competitive bound on the lightest neutrino mass m1. Namely, the 95% credible interval in the Bayesian approach turns out to be 1.6 meV ≲ m1 ≲ 7.3 meV or 0.3 meV ≲ m1 ≲ 5.6 meV when the uniform prior on m1/eV or on log10(m1/eV) is adopted. Moreover, one of two Majorana CP phases is strictly constrained, i.e., 140° ≲ ρ ≲ 220° for both scenarios of prior distributions of m1. In contrast, if a relatively worse experimental sensitivity of |mββ| ≃ 10 meV is assumed, the constraint on the lightest neutrino mass becomes accordingly 0.6 meV ≲ m1 ≲ 26 meV or 0 ≲ m1 ≲ 6.1 meV, while two Majorana CP phases will be essentially unconstrained. In the same statistical framework, the prospects for the determination of neutrino mass ordering and the discrimination between Majorana and Dirac nature of massive neutrinos in the 0νββ-decay experiments are also discussed. Given the experimental sensitivity of |mββ| ≃ 10 meV (or 1 meV), the strength of evidence to exclude the Majorana nature under the null observation of 0νββ decays is found to be inconclusive (or strong), no matter which of two priors on m1 is taken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the hierarchy sensitivity of Protvino to ORCA (P2O) experiment in three flavour scenario as well as its sensitivity to non-standard interactions (NSI) in neutrino propagation. Because of the largest possible baseline length of 2595 km, P2O is expected to have strong sensitivity towards neutrino mass hierarchy and NSI parameters. In our study, we show that even though the number of appearance channel events for the minimal configuration of P2O are higher compared to DUNE, still the hierarchy sensitivity of P2O is less than DUNE because of large background events. Our results show that for a background reduction factor of 0.46 and appearance channel background systematic normalization error of 4%, the hierarchy sensitivity of P2O becomes equivalent of DUNE for δCP = 195°. We call this configuration of P2O as optimized P2O. Regarding the study of NSI, we find that, for ϵeμ (ϵeτ) sensitivity of DUNE is similar (better) as compared to optimized P2O when both ϵeμ and ϵeτ are included in the analysis. Our results show that in presence of NSI, the change of hierarchy sensitivity with respect to standard three flavor scenario, is higher in P2O as compared to DUNE. Further, hierarchy sensitivity in presence of NSI is lower (higher) than sensitivity in the standard three flavour scenario for δCP = 270°(90°). It is important to note that hierarchy sensitivity of optimized P2O does not get significantly better than DUNE for the current favourable values of δCP which is 180° < δCP< 360° as obtained by the global analysis in both standard three flavour and in presence of NSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gauged Peccei-Quinn (PQ) mechanism provides a simple prescription to embed the global PQ symmetry into a gauged U(1) symmetry. As it originates from the gauged PQ symmetry, the global PQ symmetry can be protected from explicit breaking by quantum gravitational effects once appropriate charge assignment is given. In this paper, we identify the gauged PQ symmetry with the B - L symmetry, which is obviously attractive as the B - L gauge symmetry is the most authentic extension of the Standard Model. As we will show, a natural B - L charge assignment can be found in a model motivated by the seesaw mechanism in the SU(5) Grand Unified Theory. As a notable feature of this model, it does not require extra SU(5) singlet matter fields other than the right-handed neutrinos to cancel the self and the gravitational anomalies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently in JHEP09 (2021) 053, Wang et al. discussed the polynomial ring formed by flavor invariants in the leptonic sector with massive Majorana neutrinos. They have explicitly constructed the finite generating sets of the polynomial rings for both two-generation scenario and three-generation scenario. However, Wang et al.'s claim of the finiteness of the generating sets of the polynomial rings and their calculation by the approach of Hilbert series with generalized Molien-Weyl formula are both based on their assertion that the unitary group U(n, ℂ) is reductive, which is unfortunately incorrect. The property of being reductive is only applicable to linear algebraic groups. And it is well-known that the unitary group U(n, ℂ) is not even a linear algebraic group. In this paper, we point out the above issue and provide a solution to fill in the accompanying logical gaps in JHEP09 (2021) 053. Some important results from the theory of linear algebraic group, the invariant theory of square matrices and group theory are needed in the analysis. We also clarify some somewhat misleading or vague statements in JHEP09 (2021) 053 about the scope of flavor invariants. Note that, although built from incorrect assertion, Wang et al.'s calculation results in JHEP09 (2021) 053 are nonetheless correct, which is ultimately because the ring of invariants of U(n, ℂ) is isomorphic to that of GL(n, ℂ) which is itself reductive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High energy astrophysical neutrinos interacting with ultralight dark matter (DM) can undergo flavour oscillations that induce an energy dependence in the flavour ratios. Such a dependence on the neutrino energy will reflect in the track to shower ratio in neutrino telescopes like IceCube or KM3NeT. This opens up a possibility to study DM density profiles of astrophysical objects like AGN, GRB etc., which are the suspected sources of such neutrinos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neutrinophilic two-Higgs-doublet model ( ν2HDM) provides a natural way to generate tiny neutrino mass from interactions with the new doublet scalar Φ ( H , H, A) and singlet neutrinos N of TeV scale. In this paper, we perform detailed simulations for the lepton number violating (LNV) signatures at LHC arising from cascade decays of the new scalars and neutrinos with the mass order $$ {m}_{N_R}

The upcoming European Spallation Source (ESS) will soon provide the most intense neutrino source in the world. We propose the Search for Hidden Neutrinos at the ESS (SHiNESS) experiment, highlighting its unique opportunities to search for the existence of sterile neutrinos across a wide range of scales: anomalous oscillations at short baselines; non-unitarity mixing in the active neutrino sector; or an excess of events with multiple leptons in the final state, produced in the decay of heavy neutrinos. The baseline design of the detector comprises an active volume filled with 42 ton of liquid scintillator, located 25 m far from the ESS beam target. We show that SHiNESS will be able to considerably improve current global limits for the three cases outlined above. Although in this work we focus on new physics in the neutrino sector, the proposed setup may also be used to search for signals from weakly interacting particles in a broader context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent years experiments have established the existence of neutrino os- cillations and most of the oscillation parameters have been measured with a good accuracy. The search for New Physics in neutrino oscillation will be an experimental concrete possi- bility in the next future. In this paper we investigate the ability of the DUNE facility to search for Non Standard Interaction (NSI) in neutrino propagation in matter, emphasizing the role of different assumptions on the shape and absolute normalization errors of both ve and vμ signals. We also study in detail the effects of NSI and systematics in the extraction of standard oscillation parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rare kaon decays with missing energy, K → π+Emiss, have received considerable attention because their rates can be calculated quite precisely within the standard model (SM), where the missing energy is carried away by an undetected neutrino- antineutrino pair. Beyond the SM, clean theoretical predictions can also be made regarding these processes. One such prediction is the so-called Grossman-Nir (GN) bound, which states that the branching fractions of the KL and K+ modes must satisfy the relation ℬ K L → π 0 + E miss < ∼ 4.3 ℬ K + → π + + E miss and applies within and beyond the SM, as long as the hadronic transitions change isospin by ∆I = 1/2. In this paper we extend the study of these modes to include new-physics scenarios where the missing energy is due to unobserved lepton-number-violating neutrino pairs, invisible light new scalars, or pairs of such scalars. The new interactions are assumed to arise above the electroweak scale and described by an effective field theory. We explore the possibility of violating the GN bound through ∆I = 3/2 contributions to the K → π transitions within these scenarios and find that large violations are only possible in the case where the missing energy is due to an invisible light new scalar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Majoron, the Nambu-Goldstone boson of lepton number symmetry, is an interesting candidate for dark matter as it deeply connects the dark matter and neutrino physics. In this paper, we consider the Majoron dark matter as pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson with TeV-scale mass. The heavy Majoron generally has the large decay constant and tiny Yukawa couplings to light right-handed neutrinos which are required by cosmological and astrophysical observations. That makes it difficult to realize the desired amount of the relic abundance of Majoron dark matter. We consider three improved scenarios for the generation of Majoron, dubbed as Majorogenesis, in the early universe and find in all cases the parameter space compatible with the relic abundance and cosmic-ray constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clockwork (CW) mechanism can explain the smallness of neutrino masses without introducing unnaturally small input parameters. In this paper we study the simplest CW neutrino model, the "uniform" clockwork, as well as a broader class of "generalized" clockwork models. We derive constraints on such models from lepton-flavor violating processes, as well as precision electroweak fits. These constraints allow excited CW neutrino states with masses of order 100 GeV–1 TeV, within reach of the LHC and proposed lepton colliders, as long as the input neutrino Yukawa coupling is of order 10−1–10−2. We study collider phenomenology of these models. At the LHC, models with light (∼ 100 GeV) CW neutrinos can be discovered using the signature. Lepton colliders will be able to discover the CW neutrinos as long as they are within their kinematic range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our knowledge on the active 3ν mixing angles (θ12, θ13, and θ23) and the CP phase δCP is becoming accurate day-by-day enabling us to test the unitarity of the leptonic mixing matrix with utmost precision. Future high-precision long-baseline experiments are going to play an important role in this direction. In this work, we study the impact of possible non-unitary neutrino mixing (NUNM) in the context of next-generation long-baseline experiments DUNE and T2HKK/JD+KD having one detector in Japan (T2HK/JD) and a second detector in Korea (KD). We estimate the sensitivities of these setups to place direct, model-independent, and competitive constraints on various NUNM parameters. We demonstrate the possible correlations between the NUNM parameters, θ23, and δCP. Our numerical results obtained using only far detector data and supported by simple approximate analytical expressions of the oscillation probabilities in matter, reveal that JD+KD has better sensitivities for |α21| and α22 as compared to DUNE, due to its larger statistics in the appearance channel and less systematic uncertainties in the disappearance channel, respectively. For |α31|, |α32|, and α33, DUNE gives better constraints as compared to JD+KD, due to its larger matter effect and wider neutrino energy spectrum. For α11, both DUNE and JD+KD give similar bounds. We also show how much the bounds on the NUNM parameters can be improved by combining the prospective data from DUNE and JD+KD setups. We find that due to zero-distance effects, the near detectors alone can also constrain α11, |α21|, and α22 in both these setups. Finally, we observe that the ντ appearance sample in DUNE can improve the constraints on |α32| and α33. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurements of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS) experiments have opened up the possibility to constrain neutrino physics beyond the standard model of elementary particle physics. Furthermore, by considering neutrino-electron scattering in the keV-energy region, it is possible to set additional limits on new physics processes. Here, we present constraints that are derived from Conus germanium data on beyond the standard model (BSM) processes like tensor and vector non-standard interactions (NSIs) in the neutrino-quark sector, as well as light vector and scalar mediators. Thanks to the realized low background levels in the Conus experiment at ionization energies below 1 keV, we are able to set the world's best limits on tensor NSIs from CEνNS and constrain the scale of corresponding new physics to lie above 360 GeV. For vector NSIs, the derived limits strongly depend on the assumed ionization quenching factor within the detector material, since small quenching factors largely suppress potential signals for both, the expected standard model CEνNS process and the vector NSIs. Furthermore, competitive limits on scalar and vector mediators are obtained from the CEνNS channel at reactor-site which allow to probe coupling constants as low as 5 ∙ 10−5 of low mediator masses, assuming the currently favored quenching factor regime. The consideration of neutrino-electron scatterings allows to set even stronger constraints for mediator masses below ∼ 1 MeV and ∼ 10 MeV for scalar and vector mediators, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent XENON1T excess can be explained by the solar active-sterile neutrino conversion with bound electrons via light mediator. Nevertheless, the atomic effects are usually omitted in the solar neutrino explanations. We systematically establish a second quantization formalism for both bound and ionized electrons to account for the atomic effects. This formalism is of great generality to incorporate various interactions for both neutrino and dark matter scatterings. Our calculation shows that the change in the cross section due to atomic effects can have important impact on the differential cross section. It is necessary to include atomic effects in the low-energy electron recoil signal at dark matter direct detection experiments even for energetic solar neutrinos. With the best-fit values to the XENON1T data, we also project the event rate at PandaX-4T, XENONnT, and LZ experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the collider phenomenology of a simplified model containing a right-handed W in which the WR couples predominantly to the third generation in the quark sector. The model also includes a light Majorana neutrino, with M1 ∼ O 100 GeV, giving rise to lepton-number-violating signatures that are visible at the LHC. Taking into account all the searches from the LHC and Tevatron, we find that this WR can still be as light as MR ∼ 300 GeV. We show that this type of new physics, and others like it, can be detected at the LHC using final states with three same-sign same-flavour leptons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the near future, fundamental interactions at high-energy scales may be most efficiently studied via precision measurements at low energies. A universal language to assemble and interpret precision measurements is the so-called SMEFT, which is an effective field theory (EFT) where the Standard Model (SM) Lagrangian is extended by higher-dimensional operators. In this paper we investigate the possible impact of the DUNE neutrino experiment on constraining the SMEFT. The unprecedented neutrino flux offers an opportunity to greatly improve the current limits via precision measurements of the trident production and neutrino scattering off electrons and nuclei in the DUNE near detector. We quantify the DUNE sensitivity to dimension-6 operators in the SMEFT Lagrangian, and find that in some cases operators suppressed by an O30 TeV scale can be probed. We also compare the DUNE reach to that of future experiments involving atomic parity violation and polarization asymmetry in electron scattering, which are sensitive to an overlapping set of SMEFT parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flavor-dependent long-range leptonic forces mediated by the ultra-light and neutral bosons associated with gauged Le − Lμ or Le − Lτ symmetry constitute a minimal extension of the Standard Model. In presence of these new anomaly free abelian symmetries, the SM remains invariant and renormalizable, and can lead to interesting phenomenological consequences. For an example, the electrons inside the Sun can generate a flavor-dependent long-range potential at the Earth surface, which can enhance νμ and ν¯μ survival probabilities over a wide range of energies and baselines in atmospheric neutrino experiments. In this paper, we explore in detail the possible impacts of these long-range flavor-diagonal neutral current interactions due to Le − Lμ and Le − Lτ symmetries (one at-a-time) in the context of proposed 50 kt magnetized ICAL detector at INO. Combining the information on muon momentum and hadron energy on an event-by-event basis, ICAL will be sensitive to long-range forces at 90% (3σ) C.L. with 500 kt·yr exposure if the effective gauge coupling αeμ/eτ> 1.2 × 10−53 (1.75 × 10−53). The sensitivity of ICAL towards αeμ (αeτ) is ∼ 46 (53) times better than the existing bound from the Super-Kamiokande experiment at 90% C.L., and at 3σ, the sensitivity of ICAL is comparable to the bounds obtained from the combined solar and KamLAND data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate rare decays of Higgs via exchange of two almost degenerate heavy on-shell Majorana neutrinos Nj (j = 1, 2): Γ± = Γ(h → νkNj→ νkℓ±π∓), and into the open quark channels Γ± = Γ(h → νkNj→ νkℓ±UD), where UD are two jets of open quarks ( U ¯ D , or U D ¯ , where U = u, c and D = d, s). The related CP violation asymmetry ACP = (Γ−− Γ+)/(Γ− + Γ+) is studied in detail. We take into account the N1-N2 overlap and oscillation effects. We can see that for certain, presently acceptable, range of input parameters, such decays with open quark channels, and their asymmetries, could be detected in the International Linear Collider (ILC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss the dark gauge boson emission from neutron stars via nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung. Through the rigorous treatment of the effective field theory prescription and the thermal effect, we derive the relevant couplings of dark gauge bosons to hadrons in medium. As a specific example, the U(1)B−L gauge boson scenario is chosen to investigate dark gauge boson emissivities during supernovae and cooling of young neutron stars. From the stellar cooling argument, we obtain the constraints on the B − L gauge coupling for given gauge boson masses in two observations: the duration of the supernova neutrino signal of SN1987A, and the inferred x-ray luminosity of the compact object in the remnant of SN1987A (NS1987A). In particular, the constraint from SN1987A on the U(1)B−L gauge boson scenario is revisited. The excluded gauge coupling due to the emission of transverse polarizations is an order of magnitude enhanced compared to the previous derivation. There is also a newly excluded parameter space due to the emission of longitudinal polarizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future direct observations of the Cosmic Neutrino Background (CνB) have the potential to explore a neutrino lifetime, especially in the region of the age of the universe, t0 = 4.35 × 1017 s. We forecast constraints on neutrino decay via capture of the CνB on tritium, with emphasis on the PTOLEMY-type experiment. In addition, in some cases of invisible neutrino decay into lighter neutrinos in the Standard Model and invisible particles, we can constrain not only the neutrino lifetime but also the masses of the invisible particles. For this purpose, we also formulate the energy spectra of the lighter neutrinos produced by 2-body and 3-body decays, and those of the electrons emitted in the process of the detection of the lighter neutrinos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the sensitivity to new physics of the recently proposed vIOLETA experiment: a 10 kg Skipper Charged Coupled Device detector deployed 12 meters away from a commercial nuclear reactor core. We investigate two broad classes of models which benefit from the very low energy recoil threshold of these detectors, namely neutrino magnetic moments and light mediators coupled to neutrinos and quarks or electrons. We find that this experimental setup is very sensitive to light, weakly coupled new physics, and in particular that it could probe potential explanations of the event excess observed in XENON1T. We also provide a detailed study on the dependence of the sensitivity on the experimental setup assumptions and on the neutrino flux systematic uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluate the statistical significance of the 3+1 sterile-neutrino hypothesis using νe and ν ¯ e disappearance data from reactor, solar and gallium radioactive source experiments. Concerning the latter, we investigate the implications of the recent BEST results. For reactor data we focus on relative measurements independent of flux predictions. For the problem at hand, the usual χ2-approximation to hypothesis testing based on Wilks' theorem has been shown in the literature to be inaccurate. We therefore present results based on Monte Carlo simulations, and find that this typically reduces the significance by roughly 1 σ with respect to the naïve expectation. We find no significant indication in favor of sterile-neutrino oscillations from reactor data. On the other hand, gallium data (dominated by the BEST result) show more than 5 σ of evidence supporting the sterile-neutrino hypothesis, favoring oscillation parameters in agreement with constraints from reactor data. This explanation is, however, in significant tension (∼ 3 σ) with solar neutrino experiments. In order to assess the robustness of the signal for gallium experiments we present a discussion of the impact of cross-section uncertainties on the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We extend to the highly degenerate case a recent approach for analyzing the sources of CP violation in baryogenesis models with quasi-degenerate neutrinos. In this approach an expansion of the resummed propagator around the poles is plugged into a quantum field theory model of neutrino oscillations and a source term for the time evolution of the lepton asymmetry is built directly from the probabilities of lepton number violating processes involving only stable particles. This allows for a transparent consideration of unitarity requirements. The source term has contributions that can be identified with CP violation from mixing, oscillations and interference between both. For the highly degenerate case, i.e. when the mass difference between two neutrinos is similar or smaller than their decay widths, we find that in general the mixing and oscillation terms contribute with opposite signs to the generation of lepton asymmetry and the contribution of the interference term is typically very relevant and crucial to ensure unitarity is satisfied. Moreover, the expressions we obtain are finite in the double degenerate limit of equal masses and couplings. The calculations are done in a simple scalar toy model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide a novel explanation to the muon g − 2 excess with new physics contributions at the two-loop level. In this scenario, light millicharged particles are introduced to modify the photon vacuum polarization that contributes to muon g − 2 at one additional loop. The muon g − 2 excess can be explained with the millicharged particle mass mχ around 10 MeV and the product of the multiplicity factor and millicharge squared of Nχε2 ∼ 10−3. The minimal model faces severe constraints from direct searches at fixed-target experiments and astrophysical observables. However, if the millicharged particles are also charged under a hidden confining gauge group SU(Nχ) with a confinement scale of MeV, hidden-sector hadrons are unstable and can decay into neutrinos, which makes this scenario consistent with existing constraints. This explanation can be well tested at low-energy lepton colliders such as BESIII and Belle II as well as other proposed fixed-target experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We obtain the complete and independent bases of effective operators at mass dimension 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 in both standard model effective field theory with light sterile right-handed neutrinos (νSMEFT) and low energy effective field theory with light sterile neutrinos (νLEFT). These theories provide systematical parametrizations on all possible Lorentz-invariant physical effects involving in the Majorana/Dirac neutrinos, with/without the lepton number violations. In the νSMEFT, we find that there are 2 (18), 29 (1614), 80 (4206), 323 (20400), 1358 (243944) independent operators with sterile neutrinos included at the dimension 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 for one (three) generation of fermions, while 24, 5223, 3966, 25425, 789426 independent operators in the νLEFT for two generations of up-type quarks and three generations of all other fermions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that a unified framework based on an SU(2)H horizontal symmetry which generates a naturally large neutrino transition magnetic moment and explains the XENON1T electron recoil excess also predicts a positive shift in the muon anomalous magnetic moment. This shift is of the right magnitude to be consistent with the Brookhaven measurement as well as the recent Fermilab measurement of the muon g − 2. A relatively light neutral scalar from a Higgs doublet with mass near 100 GeV contributes to muon g − 2, while its charged partner induces the neutrino magnetic moment. In contrast to other multi-scalar theories, in the model presented here there is no freedom to control the sign and strength of the muon g − 2 contribution. We analyze the collider tests of this framework and find that the HL-LHC can probe the entire parameter space of these models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of lepton flavor universality violation (LFUV) studies, we fully derive a general tensor formalism to investigate the role that left- and right-handed neutrino new-physics (NP) terms may have in b → cτ ν ¯ τ transitions. We present, for several extensions of the Standard Model (SM), numerical results for the Λb → Λcτ ν ¯ τ semileptonic decay, which is expected to be measured with precision at the LHCb. This reaction can be a new source of experimental information that can help to confirm, or maybe rule out, LFUV presently seen in B ¯ meson decays. The present study analyzes observables that can help in distinguishing between different NP scenarios that otherwise provide very similar results for the branching ratios, which are our currently best hints for LFUV. Since the τ lepton is very short-lived, we consider three subsequent τ-decay modes, two hadronic πντ and ρντ and one leptonic μ ν ¯ μντ, which have been previously studied for B ¯ → D(*) decays. Within the tensor formalism that we have developed in previous works, we re-obtain the expressions for the differential decay width written in terms of visible (experimentally accessible) variables of the massive particle created in the τ decay. There are seven different τ angular and spin asymmetries that are defined in this way and that can be extracted from experiment. Those asymmetries provide observables that can help in constraining possible SM extensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss a model where a mixed warm and hot keV neutrino dark matter rises naturally. We arrange active and sterile neutrinos in the same SU(3)L multiplet, with the lightest sterile neutrino being dark matter. The other two heavy sterile neutrinos, through their out-of-equilibrium decay, contribute both to the dilution of dark matter density and its population, after freeze-out. We show that this model features all ingredients to overcome the overproduction of keV neutrino dark matter, and explore the phenomenological implications for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the number of relativistic degrees of freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze rare charm baryon decays within the standard model and beyond. We identify all null test observables in unpolarized Λc→ pℓ+ℓ−, ℓ = e, μ decays, and study the new physics sensitivities. We find that the longitudinal dilepton polarization fraction FL is sensitive to electromagnetic dipole couplings C 7 ′ , and to the right-handed 4-fermion vector coupling C 9 ′ . The forward-backward asymmetry, AFB, due to the GIM-suppression a standard model null test already, probes the left-handed axialvector 4-fermion coupling C10; its CP–asymmetry, A FB CP probes CP-violating phases in C10. Physics beyond the standard model can induce branching ratios of dineutrino modes Λc→ pν ν ¯ up to a few times 10−5, and one order of magnitude smaller if lepton flavor universality is assumed, while standard model rates are negligible. Charged lepton flavor violation allows for striking signals into e±μ∓ final states, up to 10−6 branching ratios model-independently, and up to order 10−8 in leptoquark models. Related three-body baryon decays Ξc→ Σℓℓ, Ξc→ Λℓℓ and Ωc→ Ξℓℓ offer similar opportunities to test the standard model with |∆c| = |∆u| = 1 transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The refraction index and matter potential depend on neutrino energy and this dependence has a resonance character associated to the production of the mediator in the s−channel. For light mediators and light particles of medium (background) the resonance can be realized at energies accessible to laboratory experiments. We study properties of the energy dependence of the potential for different C-asymmetries of background. Interplay of the background potential and the vacuum term leads to (i) bump in the oscillation probability in the resonance region, (ii) dip related to the MSW resonance in the background, (iii) substantial deviation of the effective ∆m2 above the resonance from the low energy value, etc. We considered generation of mixing in the background. Interactions with background shifts the energy of usual MSW resonance and produces new MSW resonances. Searches of the background effects allow us to put bounds on new interactions of neutrinos and properties of the background. We show that explanation of the MiniBooNE excess, as the bump due to resonance refraction, is excluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a composite scotogenic model for neutrino masses, which are generated via loops of ℤ2-odd composite scalars. We consider three different approaches to the couplings of the neutrinos (including three right-handed singlets) and the composite sector: ETC-like four-fermion interactions, fundamental partial compositeness and fermion partial compositeness. In all cases, the model can feature sizeable couplings and remain viable with respect to various experimental constraints if the three ℤ2-odd right-handed neutrinos have masses between the TeV and the Planck scales. Additionally, the lightest ℤ2-odd composite scalar may play the role of Dark Matter, either via thermal freeze-out or as an asymmetric relic. This mechanism can be featured in a variety of models based on vacuum misalignment. For concreteness, we demonstrate it in a composite two-Higgs scheme based on the coset SU(6)/Sp(6). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The various global analyses of available neutrino oscillation data indicate the presence of the standard 3 + 0 neutrino oscillation picture. However, there are a few short baseline anomalies that point to the possible existence of a fourth neutrino (with mass in the eV-scale), essentially sterile in nature. Should sterile neutrino exist in nature and its presence is not taken into consideration properly in the analyses of neutrino data, the interference terms arising due to the additional CP phases in presence of a sterile neutrino can severely impact the physics searches in long baseline (LBL) neutrino oscillation experiments. In the current work we consider one light (eV-scale) sterile neutrino and probe all the three CP phases (δ13, δ24, δ34) in the context of the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) and also estimate how the results improve when data from NOvA, T2K and T2HK are added in the analysis. We illustrate the ∆χ2 correlations of the CP phases among each other, and also with the three active-sterile mixing angles. Finally, we briefly illustrate how the relevant parameter spaces in the context of neutrinoless double beta decay get modified in light of the bounds in presence of a light sterile neutrino. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Possibility of a Right-Handed (RH) neutrino being a Goldstone fermion of a spontaneously broken global U(1) symmetry in a supersymmetric theory is considered. This fermion obtains mass from the supergravity effects leading to a RH neutrino at the electroweak scale with a mass similar to the gravitino mass. A prototype model realizing this scenario contains just three gauge singlet superfields needed for the type I seesaw mechanism. Masses of the other two neutrinos are determined by the U(1) breaking scale which too can be around the electroweak scale. Light neutrinos obtain their masses in this scenario through (a) mixing with the RH neutrinos (type I seesaw), (b) mixing with neutralinos (R-parity breaking), (c) indirectly through mixing of the RH neutrinos with neutralinos, and (d) radiative corrections. All these contributions are described by the same set of a small number of underlying parameters and provide a very constrained and predictive framework for the neutrino masses which is investigated in detail for various choices of U(1) symmetries. It is found that flavour independent U(1) symmetries cannot describe neutrino masses if the soft supersymmetry breaking terms are flavour universal and one needs to consider flavour dependent symmetries. Considering a particular example of Lμ− Lτ symmetry, it is shown that viable neutrino masses and mixing can be obtained without introducing any flavour violation in the soft sector. The leptonic couplings of Majoron are worked out in the model and shown to be consistent with various laboratory, astrophysical and cosmological constraints. The neutrino data allows sizeable couplings between the RH neutrinos and Higgsinos which can be used to probe the pseudo-Goldstone fermion at colliders through its displaced decay vertex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensions of the Standard Model with charged Higgs, having a non-negligible coupling with neutrinos, can have interesting implications vis-à-vis neutrino experiments. Such models can leave their footprints not only in the ultra-high energy neutrino detectors like IceCube but can also give rise to the neutrino non-standard interactions (NSIs). We consider a model based on the neutrinophilic two-Higgs doublets and study its imprints in the excess neutrino events in the 1–3 PeV energy bins at the IceCube. This is facilitated by the existence of a charged scalar in the model which can result in a Glashow-like resonance. The same charged scalar can be responsible for sizeable NSIs. We perform a combined study of the latest IceCube data along with various other constraints arising from different neutrino experiments together with the limits set by the LEP experiment, and explore the parameter space which can lead to a sizeable NSI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quartic scalar coupling λ5 term, which violates the lepton-number by two units in the Ma-model, is phenomenologically small when the model is applied to the lepton-flavor violation (LFV) processes. In order to dynamically generate the λ5 parameter through quantum loop effects and retain the dark matter (DM) candidate, we extend the Ma-model by adding a Z2-odd vector-like lepton doublet and a Z2-even Majorana singlet. With the new couplings to the Higgs and gauge bosons, the observed DM relic density can be explained when the upper limits from the DM-nucleon scattering cross sections are satisfied. In addition to the neutrino data and LFV constraints, it is found that the DM relic density can significantly exclude the free parameter space. Nevertheless, the resulting muon g − 2 mediated by the inert charged-Higgs can fit the 4.2σ deviation between the experimental measurement and the SM result, and the branching ratio for τ → μγ can be as large as the current upper limit when the rare μ → (eγ, 3e) decays are suppressed. In addition, it is found that the resulting BR(τ → μρ) can reach the sensitivity of Belle II with an integrated luminosity of 50 ab−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The freeze-in production of Feebly Interacting Massive Particle (FIMP) dark matter in the early universe is an appealing alternative to the well-known — and constrained — Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) paradigm. Although challenging, the phenomenology of FIMP dark matter has been receiving growing attention and is possible in a few scenarios. In this work, we contribute to this endeavor by considering a Z′ portal to fermionic dark matter, with the Z′ having both vector and axial couplings and a mass ranging from MeV up to PeV. We evaluate the bounds on both freeze-in and freeze-out from direct detection, atomic parity violation, leptonic anomalous magnetic moments, neutrino-electron scattering, collider, and beam dump experiments. We show that FIMPs can already be tested by most of these experiments in a complementary way, whereas WIMPs are especially viable in the Z′ low mass regime, in addition to the Z′ resonance region. We also discuss the role of the axial couplings of Z′ in our results. We therefore hope to motivate specific realizations of this model in the context of FIMPs, as well as searches for these elusive dark matter candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a simple model to simultaneously explain four observed flavor anomalies while generating the neutrino mass at the one-loop level. Specifically, we address the measured anomalous magnetic dipole moments of the muon, ∆aμ, and electron, ∆ae, the observed anomaly of b → sl+l− in the B-meson decays, and the Cabibbo-angle anomaly. The model consists of four colorful new degrees of freedom: three scalar leptoquarks with the Standard Model quantum numbers (3, 3, −1/3), (3, 2, 1/6), and (3, 1, 2/3), and one pair of down-quark-like vector fermion in (3, 1, −1/3). The baryon number is assumed to be conserved for simplicity. Phenomenologically viable solutions with the minimal number of real parameters can be found to accommodate all the above-mentioned anomalies and produce the approximate, close to 1σ, neutrino oscillation pattern at the same time. From general consideration, the model robustly predicts: (1) neutrino mass is of the normal hierarchy type, and (2) M ee ν ≲ 3 × 10−4 MeV. The possible UV origin to explain the flavor pattern of the found viable parameter space is briefly discussed. The parameter space can be well reproduced within a simple split fermion toy model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) with masses around the electroweak scale are expected to be rather long-lived particles, as a result of the observed smallness of the active neutrino masses. In this work, we study long-lived HNLs in NRSMEFT, a Standard Model (SM) extension with singlet fermions to which we add non-renormalizable operators up to dimension-6. Operators which contain two HNLs can lead to a sizable enhancement of the production cross sections, compared to the minimal case where HNLs are produced only via their mixing with the SM neutrinos. We calculate the expected sensitivities for the ATLAS detector and the future far-detector experiments: AL3X, ANUBIS, CODEX-b, FASER, MATHUSLA, and MoEDAL-MAPP in this setup. The sensitive ranges of the HNL mass and of the active-heavy mixing angle are much larger than those in the minimal case. We study both, Dirac and Majorana, HNLs and discuss how the two cases actually differ phenomenologically, for HNL masses above roughly 100 GeV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]