Search

We study the effect of lepton number violation (LNV) on baryon asymmetry, generated in the early Universe, in the presence of a dark sector with a global symmetry $U(1)_X$, featuring asymmetric dark matter (ADM). We show that in general LNV, observable at the LHC or in neutrinoless double beta decay experiments, cannot wash out a baryon asymmetry generated at higher scales, unlike in scenarios without such dark sector. An observation of LNV at the TeV scale may thus support ADM scenarios. Considering several models with different types of dark matter (DM), we find that the DM mass is of the order of a few GeV or below in our scenario., Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure

We consider an extension of the Standard Model with the global symmetry breaking pattern SO(5)/SO(4), where the Higgs boson arises as a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson. The scalar content of the theory consists of a Standard-Model-like Higgs field and an extra real scalar field. The flavour sector of the model is extended by two right-handed neutrinos compatible with the observed light-neutrino phenomenology, and we find that the correct vacuum alignment determines the mass of the heavier neutrino eigenstate to be around 80 TeV. The new singlet-scalar state generates dynamically a Majorana mass term for the heavy neutrino states. We show how the model leads to the correct baryon asymmetry of the universe via leptogenesis in the case of two degenerate or hierarchical heavy neutrinos., Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. v2 to match the published version

We consider an extension of the Standard Model (SM) augmented by two neutral singlet fermions per generation and a leptoquark. In order to generate the light neutrino masses and mixing, we incorporate inverse seesaw mechanism. The right handed neutrino production in this model is significantly larger than the conventional inverse seesaw scenario. We analyze the different collider signatures of this model and find that the final states associated with three or more leptons, multi jet and at least one b-tagged and (or) $\tau$-tagged jet can probe larger RH neutrino mass scale. We have also proposed a same-sign dilepton signal region associated with multiple jets and missing energy that can be used to distinguish the the present scenario from the usual inverse seesaw extended SM., Comment: Text added, accepted in PRD

The phenomenology of 3-neutrino mixing, the current status of our knowledge about the 3-neutrino mixing parameters, including the absolute neutrino mass scale, and of the Dirac and Majorana CP violation in the lepton sector are reviewed. The problems of CP violation in neutrino oscillations and of determining the nature – Dirac or Majorana – of massive neutrinos are discussed. The seesaw mechanism of neutrino mass generation and the related leptogenesis scenario of generation of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe are considered. The results showing that the CP violation necessary for the generation of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe in leptogenesis can be due exclusively to the Dirac and/or Majorana CP-violating phase(s) in the neutrino mixing matrix U are briefly reviewed. The discrete symmetry approach to understanding the observed pattern of neutrino mixing and the related predictions for the leptonic Dirac CP violation are also reviewed.

5 pages.- 2 figures, Interactions that manifest themselves as lepton number violating processes at low energies in combination with sphaleron transitions typically erase any preexisting baryon asymmetry of the Universe. In this article, we discuss the constraints obtained from an observation of neutrinoless double beta decay in this context. If a new physics mechanism of neutrinoless double beta decay other than the standard light neutrino exchange is observed, typical scenarios of high-scale baryogenesis will be excluded unless the baryon asymmetry is stabilized via some new mechanism. We also sketch how this conclusion can be extended beyond the first lepton generation by incorporating lepton flavor violating processes., The authors would like to thank Lukas Graf for useful discussions and for the assistance in preparing this work. The work of F. F. D., J. H. and W. C. H. was supported partly by the London Centre for Terauniverse Studies (LCTS), using funding from the European Research Council via the Advanced Investigator Grant No. 267352. M. H. is supported by the Spanish Grants No. FPA2014-58183-P and Multidark CSD2009-00064 (MINECO), and No. PROMETEOII/2014/084 (Generalitat Valenciana).

We study the effect on leptogenesis due to $B-L$ cosmic strings of a $U(1)_{B-L}$ extension of the Standard Model. The disappearance of closed loops of $B-L$ cosmic strings can produce heavy right handed neutrinos, $N_R$'s, whose CP-asymmetric decay in out-of-thermal equilibrium condition can give rise to a net lepton ($L$) asymmetry which is then converted, due to sphaleron transitions, to a Baryon ($B$) asymmetry. This is studied by using the relevant Boltzmann equations and including the effects of both thermal and string generated non-thermal $N_R$'s. We explore the parameter region spanned by the effective light neutrino mass parameter $\tilde{m}_1$, the mass $M_1$ of the lightest of the heavy right-handed neutrinos (or equivalently the Yukawa coupling $h_1$) and the scale of $B-L$ symmetry breaking, $\eta_{B-L}$, and show that there exist ranges of values of these parameters, in particular with $\eta_{B-L} > 10^{11}\gev$ and $h_1\gsim 0.01$, for which the cosmic string generated non-thermal $N_R$'s can give the dominant contribution to, and indeed produce, the observed Baryon Asymmetry of the Universe when the purely thermal leptogenesis mechanism is not sufficient. We also discuss how, depending on the values of $\eta_{B-L}$, $\tilde{m}_1$ and $h_1$, our results lead to upper bounds on $\sin\delta$, where $\delta$ is the the CP violating phase that determines the CP asymmetry in the decay of the heavy right handed neutrino responsible for generating the $L$-asymmetry., Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures, discussions added, journal version, to appear in NPB

We study a supersymmetric version of the type-III seesaw mechanism considering two variants of the model: a minimal version for explaining neutrino data with only two copies of 24 superfields and a model with three generations of 24-plets. The latter predicts, in general, rates for mu -> e gamma inconsistent with experimental data. However, this bound can be evaded if certain special conditions within the neutrino sector are fulfilled. In the case of two 24-plets, lepton flavor violation constraints can be satisfied much more easily. After specifying the corresponding regions in the minimal supergravity parameter space, we show that under favorable conditions one can test the corresponding flavor structures in the leptonic sector at the LHC. For this we perform Monte Carlo studies for the signals, also taking into account the supersymmetry background. We find that it is only of minor importance for the scenarios studied here., We thank J. C. Romao for providing us with his SPHENO FRONTEND which facilitated the scans over the parameter space, and B. O'Leary for providing an updated version of the LHC-FASER package for the cross section calculations. W. P. and Ch. W. thank the IFIC for hospitality during extended stays. Their work has been supported in part by the DFG Project No. PO-1337/2-1 and the Helmholtz Alliance "Physics at the Terascale." W. P. has been supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. M. H. acknowledges support from the Spanish MICINN Grants No. FPA2011-22975 and No. MULTIDARK CSD2009-00064, the Generalitat Valenciana Grant No. Prometeo/2009/091, and the EU Network Grant No. UNILHC PITN-GA-2009-237920.

We study neutrino masses and mixing in the context of flavor models with A(4) symmetry, three scalar doublets in the triplet representation, and three lepton families. We show that there is no representation assignment that yields a dimension-5 mass operator consistent with experiment. We then consider a type-I seesaw with three heavy right-handed neutrinos, explaining in detail why it fails, and allowing us to show that agreement with the present neutrino oscillation data can be recovered with the inclusion of dimension-3 heavy neutrino mass terms that break softly the A(4) symmetry., The work of R. G. F. and J. P. S. was partially supported by Portuguese national funds through FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, under Projects No. PEst-OE/FIS/UI0777/2011, No. PTDC/FIS/098188/2008 and No. CERN/FP/116328/2010, and by EU RTN Marie Curie Project No. PITN-GA-2009-237920. The work of H. S. is funded by the European FEDER and Spanish MINECO, under Grant No. FPA2011-23596.

Flavor effects due to lepton interactions in the early Universe may have played an important role in the generation of the cosmological baryon asymmetry through leptogenesis. If the only source of high-energy CP violation comes from the left-handed leptonic sector, then it is possible to establish a bridge between flavored leptogenesis and low-energy leptonic CP violation. We explore this connection taking into account our present knowledge about low-energy neutrino parameters and the matter-antimatter asymmetry observed in the Universe. In this framework, we find that leptogenesis favors a hierarchical light neutrino mass spectrum, while for quasi-degenerate and inverted hierarchical neutrino masses there is a very narrow allowed window. The absolute neutrino mass scale turns out to be m < 0.1 eV., 10 pages, 3 figures

The parity-nonconserving asymmetry in the deuteron photodisintegration, $\vec{\gamma}+d\to n+p$, is considered with the photon energy ranged up to 10 MeV above the threshold. The aim is to improve upon a schematic estimate assuming the absence of tensor as well as spin-orbit forces in the nucleon-nucleon interaction. The major contributions are due to the vector-meson exchanges, and the strong suppression of the pion-exchange contribution is confirmed. A simple argument, going beyond the observation of an algebraic cancellation, is presented. Contributions of meson-exchange currents are also considered, but found to be less significant., Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, typeset by REVTeX (two-column format) and BIBTeX

The presence of the triplet $\Delta_{L}$ in left-right symmetric theories leads to type-II see-saw mechanism for the neutrino masses. In these models, assuming a normal mass hierarchy for the heavy Majorana neutrinos, we derive a lower bound on the mass of the lightest of heavy Majorana neutrino from the leptogenesis constraint. From this bound we establish a consistent picture for the hierarchy of heavy Majorana neutrinos in a class of left right symmetric models in which we identify the neutrino Dirac mass matrix with that of Fritzsch type charged lepton mass matrix. It is shown that these values are compatible with the current neutrino oscillation data., Comment: minor typos corrected, references added, match with published version

Cosmic strings arising from breaking of the $U(1)_{B-L}$ gauge symmetry that occurs in a wide variety of unified models can carry zero modes of heavy Majorana neutrinos. Decaying and/or repeatedly self-interacting closed loops of these ``$B-L$'' cosmic strings can be a non-thermal source of heavy right-handed Majorana neutrinos whose decay can contribute to the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe (BAU) via the leptogenesis route. The $B-L$ cosmic strings are expected in GUT models such as SO(10), where they can be formed at an intermediate stage of symmetry breaking well below the GUT scale $\sim 10^{16}$ GeV; such light strings are not excluded by the CMB anisotropy data and may well exist. We estimate the contribution of $B-L$ cosmic string loops to the baryon-to-photon ratio of the Universe in the light of current knowledge on neutrino masses and mixings implied by atmospheric and solar neutrino measurements. We find that $B-L$ cosmic string loops can contribute significantly to the BAU for $U(1)_{B-L}$ symmetry breaking scale $\eta_{B-L}\gsim 1.7\times 10^{11}\gev$. At the same time, in order for the contribution of decaying $B-L$ cosmic string loops not to exceed the observed baryon-to-photon ratio inferred from the recent WMAP results, the lightest heavy right-handed Majorana neutrino mass $M_1$ must satisfy the constraint $M_1 \leq 2.4 \times 10^{12}(\eta_{B-L}/10^{13}\gev)^{1/2}\gev$. This may have interesting implications for the associated Yukawa couplings in the heavy neutrino sector and consequently for the light neutrino masses generated through see-saw mechanism., Comment: match with the published version

A detailed analytic and numerical study of baryogenesis through leptogenesis is performed in the framework of the standard model of electroweak interactions extended by the addition of three right-handed neutrinos, leading to the seesaw mechanism. We analyze the connection between GUT-motivated relations for the quark and lepton mass matrices and the possibility of obtaining a viable leptogenesis scenario. In particular, we analyze whether the constraints imposed by SO(10) GUTs can be compatible with all the available solar, atmospheric and reactor neutrino data and, simultaneously, be capable of producing the required baryon asymmetry via the leptogenesis mechanism. It is found that the Just-So^2 and SMA solar solutions lead to a viable leptogenesis even for the simplest SO(10) GUT, while the LMA, LOW and VO solar solutions would require a different hierarchy for the Dirac neutrino masses in order to generate the observed baryon asymmetry. Some implications on CP violation at low energies and on neutrinoless double beta decay are also considered., 36 pages, 6 figures; new references added, final version to appear in Nucl. Phys. B

It is shown that the dynamics of domain walls in Left-Right symmetric models, separating respective regions of unbroken SU(2)_L and SU(2)_R in the early universe, can give rise to baryogenesis via leptogenesis. Neutrinos have a spatially varying complex mass matrix due to CP-violating scalar condensates in the domain wall. The motion of the wall through the plasma generates a flux of lepton number across the wall which is converted to a lepton asymmetry by helicity-flipping scatterings. Subsequent processing of the lepton excess by sphalerons results in the observed baryon asymmetry, for a range of parameters in Left-Right symmetric models., v2 version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D. Discussion in Introduction and Conclusion sharpened. Equation (12) corrected. 16 pages, 3 figure files, RevTeX4 style

Our Universe is charge-asymmetric: it contains no antimatter in amounts comparable to matter. This fact provides cosmological evidence for the nonconservation of baryon number as well as for C and CP breaking. We review the problem of the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe and the ideas proposed for its solution motivated by the discoveries in neutrino physics.

We discuss the conditions for a non-vanishing Dirac phase \delta and mixing angle \theta_{13}, sources of CP violation in neutrino oscillations, to be uniquely responsible for the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe through leptogenesis. We show that this scenario, that we call \delta-leptogenesis, is viable when the degenerate limit (DL) for the heavy right-handed (RH) neutrino spectrum is considered. We derive an interesting joint condition on \sin\theta_{13} and the absolute neutrino mass scale that can be tested in future neutrino oscillation experiments. In the limit of hierarchical heavy RH neutrino spectrum (HL), we strengthen the previous result that \delta-leptogenesis is only very marginally allowed, even when the production from the two heavier RH neutrinos is taken into account. An improved experimental upper bound on \sin\theta_{13} and (or) an account of quantum kinetic effects could completely rule out this option in the future. Therefore, \delta-leptogenesis can be also regarded as a motivation for models with degenerate heavy neutrino spectrum., Comment: 39 pages, 9 figures; added comments and references, conclusions unchanged

We consider a neutrinophilic Higgs scenario where the Standard Model is extended by one additional Higgs doublet and three generations of singlet right-handed Majorana neutrinos. Light neutrino masses are generated through mixing with the heavy neutrinos via Type-I seesaw mechanism when the neutrinophilic Higgs gets a vacuum expectation value (VEV). The Dirac neutrino Yukawa coupling in this scenario can be sizable compared to those in the canonical Type-I seesaw mechanism owing to the small neutrinophilic Higgs VEV giving rise to interesting phenomenological consequences. We have explored various signal regions likely to provide a hint of such a scenario at the LHC as well as at future $e^+e^-$ colliders. We have also highlighted the consequences of light neutrino mass hierarchies in collider phenomenology that can complement the findings of neutrino oscillation experiments., Comment: 31 pages, 8 figues, 5 tables, Accepted for publication in PRD