Search

We show that a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson (pNGB) with an initial misalignment angle can drive successful spontaneous baryogenesis, and become a good dark matter candidate if the corresponding global symmetry is non-restored at high temperatures. Considering a dimension-five explicit breaking operator, we find that the pNGB starts its motion with a sliding across rapidly decreasing potential barriers during which the baryon asymmetry is generated and frozen, and later it oscillates as dark matter. It is predicted that the pNGB mass and decay constant are around $5\,{\rm eV}$ and $3\times10^6\,{\rm GeV}$, respectively, while the radial mode has a light mass $O(10)\,{\rm MeV}$ and a small mixing $O(10^{-4})$ with the Higgs boson. Applied to the Majoron in the type-I seesaw model, the heaviest right-handed neutrino is required to be as light as $100\,{\rm GeV}$. These predictions can be tested at kaon experiments, heavy neutral lepton searches, LHC, and future colliders., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures with supplemental material, v2: discussion on the isocurvature perturbation constraint and references added

We consider most general effective Lagrangian up to dimension five, built with Standard Model~(SM) fields and right-handed neutrinos~(RHNs) $N_i$. Assuming that the RHNs are present near the electroweak scale, we study the phenomenology of the RHNs and highlight the differences that arise due to the inclusion of dimension five operators. We specifically focus on the production process $e^+e^-/pp\to N_i N_j$ which comes from the dimension five magnetic moment operator. We find that this production process followed by the decay chains such as $N_i\to N_j\gamma$, $N_i\to\nu_j\gamma$ and $N_i\to\ell^\pm j j$ leads to striking collider signatures which might help to probe the Majorana nature of neutrinos. We discuss the current collider constraints on this operator, as well as projected limit at future colliders. In addition, we discuss the stellar-cooling bounds applicable to the RHN mass below 0.1 GeV., Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures

We propose a leptogenesis scenario where baryon asymmetry generation is assisted by the kinetic motion of the majoron, $J$, in the process of lepton-number violating inverse decays of a right-handed neutrino, $N$. We investigate two distinct scenarios depending on the sources of majoron kinetic motion: 1) the misalignment mechanism, and 2) the kinetic misalignment mechanism. The former case can naturally generate the observed baryon asymmetry for the majoron mass $m_J \gtrsim \,{\rm TeV}$ and the right-handed neutrino's mass $M_{N} \gtrsim 10^{11}\,{\rm GeV}$. However, an additional decay channel of the majoron is required to avoid the overclosure problem of the majoron oscillation. The later scenario works successfully for $m_J \lesssim 100\,{\rm keV}$, and $M_{N} \lesssim 10^9\,{\rm GeV}$ while $M_N$ can be even far below the temperature of the electroweak phase transition as long as sufficiently large kinetic misalignment is provided. We also find that a sub-$100\,{\rm keV}$ majoron is a viable candidate for dark matter., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures; V2: version accepted in PRD

We review the problem of flavour tracing back to the days when the standard model was just coming together. We focus on the recently discussed new solutions of this problem, namely models based on the discrete $\mathcal{Z}_{\rm N} \times \mathcal{Z}_{\rm M}$ flavour symmetry and the VEVs hierarchy, and discuss their various phenomenological consequences. In particular, there appears a novel feature that the solution of the flavour problem based on the discrete flavour symmetry can provide the so-called flavonic dark matter. This predicts a specific relation between the mass and the symmetry-breaking scale, which can be contrasted with the standard QCD axion., Comment: 22 pages, 21 figures, contribution to FRONTIERS IN PARTICLE PHYSICS 2023

We explore the possibility of embedding thermal leptogenesis within a first-order phase transition (FOPT) such that RHNs remain massless until a FOPT arises. Their sudden and violent mass gain allows the neutrinos to become thermally decoupled, and the lepton asymmetry generated from their decay can be, in principle, free from the strong wash-out processes that conventional leptogenesis scenarios suffer from, albeit at the cost of new washout channels. To quantify the effect of this enhancement, we consider a simple setup of a classically scale-invariant $B-L$ potential, which requires three RHNs with similar mass scales, in the ``strong-washout'' regime of thermal leptogenesis. Here we find that parameter space which requires $M_N\sim 10^{11}\text{ GeV}$ without bubble assistance is now predicted at $M_N \sim 5\times 10^9 \text{ GeV}$ suggesting a sizeable reduction from bubble effects. We numerically quantify to what extent such a framework can alleviate strong-washout effects and we find the lower bound on the RHN mass, $M_N \sim 10^{7}\text{ GeV}$, below which bubble-assisted leptogenesis cannot provide an enhancement. We also study the signature possibly observable at GW terrestrial interferometers and conclude that bubble-assisted leptogenesis models with relatively light masses, $M_N \lesssim 5\times 10^9 \text{ GeV}$ may be probable., Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures, published version, references added, discussion slightly changed

We first time show that a common solution to dark matter and the flavor problem of the standard model can be obtained in the framework of the $\mathcal{Z}_{\rm N} \times \mathcal{Z}_{\rm M}$ flavor symmetry where the flavonic Goldstone boson of this flavor symmetry acts as a good dark matter candidate through the misalignment mechanism. Hierarchical mass pattern of quarks and charged leptons naturally follows from the discrete symmetry. For light active neutrinos, we construct the Dirac-type mass matrix which is preferred to fit the observed neutrino oscillation data with normal hierarchy. Our model predicts the axion-like photon coupling characteristically different from the standard QCD axion, and could be probed by the future X-ray or radio observations., Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure

In the Dynamical Scotogenic Model, the global $B-L$ symmetry is supposed to be broken spontaneously resulting in a massless Goldstone boson called majoron, and massive right handed neutrinos which participate in the generation of light neutrino massses at one-loop. One of them being the lightest stable particle can be a thermal dark matter candidate. We discuss how the dark matter phenomenology differs from the original Scotogenic model, taking into account all the constraints coming from the observed neutrino masses and mixing, lepton flavor violations such as $\mu \to e\gamma, \mu \to e J$, astrophysical and cosmological observations of stellar cooling and $N_{eff}$, as well as collider signatures such as Higgs invisible decays. We find that the dark matter annihilation to majorons plays an important role to produce the right relic abundance., Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, 3 tables, Published as JHEP08(2023)130

We investigate boosted displaced signatures in the Type-I seesaw mechanism associated with the $B-L$ gauge symmetry. Such events arise from decays of right-handed neutrinos depending on their Yukawa couplings and masses. Considering two scenarios: (a) three degenerate right-handed neutrinos whose Yukawa couplings are reconstructed from the observed neutrino masses and mixing; (b) only one right-handed neutrino which decouples from the observed neutrino mass generation and thus its coupling can be arbitrarily small, a detailed PYTHIA based simulation is performed to determine the parameter regions of the $B-L$ gauge boson mass, the neutrino Yukawa couplings, and the right-handed neutrino mass sensitive to CMS, ATLAS, proposed FCC-hh detector and MATHUSLA at the centre of mass energies of 14, 27 and 100 TeV via displaced signatures. We also show in detail how the boost effect enhances the displaced decay lengths, especially for the longitudinal ones, and hinders the probe of Majorana nature of neutrinos., Comment: 33 pages, 15 figures, 18 tables

Interactions with a background medium modify in general the dispersion relation and canonical normalization of propagating particles. This can have an important phenomenological consequence when considering light dark matter coupling to quarks and leptons. In this paper, we address this issue in the vector dark matter background with the randomly distributed polarizations or a fixed polarization to the single direction. The observations associated with particle dispersion can give constraints on new light Abelian gauge boson models. Considering the solar neutrino transition and the electron mass measurement, stringent bounds can be put on the gauged $L_\mu - L_\tau$ model and the dark photon model. Moreover, the classical vector field turns out to induce drastic changes in the particle normalization, which rule out a significant parameter region of the generic vector dark matter model., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, version published in PRD

We explore supersymmetric SO(10) models predicting observable proton decay and various topological defects which produce different shapes and strengths of gravitational wave backgrounds depending on the scales of intermediate symmetry breaking and inflation as well. We compare these to their non-supersymmetric counterparts. By identifying the scales at which gravitational wave signals appear, we would be able to track down a particular breaking chain and discern if it has a supersymmetric origin or not. It would also be useful to observe gravitational waves from more than one source among all possible topological defects and first order phase transitions for a realistic breaking chain. For these purposes, we work out specific examples in which the grand unification and relevant intermediate scales are calculable explicitly. It turns out that examples with gravitational waves from different sources are quite difficult to obtain, and the predicted gravitational wave profiles from domain walls and first order phase transitions obtained in some examples will require detectors in the kHz to MHz region., Comment: 31 pages, 3 figures. References added, improved description of breaking chains. This version matches the published version

An ultralight dark matter may have interesting implications in neutrino physics which have been studied actively in recent years. It is pointed out that there appears yet unexplored medium effect in neutrino transitions which occurs at the first order in perturbation of the neutrino-medium interaction. We derive the general formula for the neutrino transition probability in a medium which describes the standard neutrino oscillation as well as the new medium contribution. It turns out that such an effect constrains the model parameter space more than ever., Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, Revised with calculational details, more explanations and references

If there is a scalar boson field interacting dominantly with a quark or a lepton in the thermal background, its coherent oscillation can be generated through the thermal effect and becomes a good dark matter candidate in a wide range of the coupling and masses. We describe the general features of this mechanism and analyze how it works in various situations considering asymptotic limits where analytic solutions can be obtained., Comment: 7 pages, no figures. Minor corrections. References added

A light leptophilic boson (scalar or pseudoscalar) has been postulated to explain the muon g-2 anomaly and could be a portal to dark matter. Realizing the leptophilic nature of a singlet boson in the framework of the two-Higgs-doublet-Model of type-X, we identify the parameter space viable for the explanation of the updated muon g-2 discrepancy. It is then shown that such a hypothetical particle will be unambiguously ruled out or discovered via the Yukawa process at a lepton collider designed as a Higgs factory., Comment: v2: Published in JHEP. 11 pages, 5 figures

We analyze the dispersion relations of Weyl or Majorana, and Dirac neutrinos in a complex scalar medium which interacts with the neutrinos through Yukawa couplings. They are solved by perturbative calculation in various limits representing different physical situations, some of which allow the medium-induced neutrino oscillation to occur. Remarkably, peculiar dispersion relations arise differently for Majorana or Dirac neutrinos in the non-relativistic limit. This provides an unpleasant restriction on the cosmological scenario of a scalar dark matter coupling to neutrinos. At present, the model parameter space is constrained by the neutrino scattering with dark matter through astrophysical neutrino observations., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures

We consider the two Higgs doublet model (2HDM) along with a generation of vector-like lepton doublet and singlet to explain the observed discrepancies in the electron and muon anomalous magnetic moments. The type-X (lepton-specific) 2HDM can allow a light pseudo-scalar which is known to explain the muon anomalous magnetic moment at two-loop. Such a light particle induces a sizable negative contribution to the electron anomalous magnetic moment at one-loop in the presence of vector-like leptons evading all the experimental constraints., Comment: v1: 20 pages, 5 figures. v2: matches the version to appear in JHEP

We explore the neutrino portal dark matter (DM) at its minimum of field content having two dark sector particles coupled to a right-handed neutrino. Assuming the feeble nature of their interactions with the standard model (SM) particles, we analyze the freeze-in production of the observed DM relic density characterized by three different categories depending on the major production mechanisms. The portal provides interesting signatures at the neutrino detectors like KamLAND, Super-Kamiokande and IceCube, from a very late decay of the scalar DM to the fermion DM and the SM neutrino. Such neutrino flux spectrum from the cosmic and galactic origins can produce anomalous signals at future experiments., Comment: Version accepted for publication in JCAP

We revisit dark matter annihilation as an explanation of the positron excess reported recently by the AMS-02 satellite-borne experiment. To this end, we propose a particle dark matter model by considering a Two Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM) extended with an additional singlet boson and a singlet fermion. The additional (light) boson mixes with the pseudoscalar inherent in the 2HDM, and the singlet fermion, which is the dark matter candidate, annihilates via this bosonic portal. The dark matter candidate is made leptophilic by choosing the lepton-specific 2HDM and a suitable high value of $\tan\beta$. We identify the model parameter space which explains the muon g-2 anomaly while evading the experimental constraints. After establishing the viability of the singlet fermion to be a dark matter candidate, we calculate the positron excess produced from its annihilation to the light bosons which primarily decay to muons. Incorporating the Sommerfeld effect caused by the light mediator and an appropriate boost factor, we find that our proposed model can satisfactorily explain the positron fraction excess as well as the positron spectrum data reported by AMS-02 experiment., Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, Title modified, Text changed, Figures modified

Yukawa production of a light scalar can be explored at a linear collider. Light (pseudo)scalar can exist in extended Higgs models and an interesting example is the light pseudoscalar in Type-X two Higgs doublet model. The model can explain the anomalous magnetic moment of muon at large $\tan \beta$. We show that the available parameter space in this model can be examined by the Yukawa process at 5$\sigma$ at the ILC., Comment: Talk presented at the International Workshop on Future Linear Colliders (LCWS2019), Sendai, Japan, 28 October-1 November, 2019. C19-10-28

We consider a scalar field $\phi$ whose coupling to the kinetic term of a non-abelian gauge field is set at an UV scale $M$. Then the confinement of the gauge sector will induce a $\phi$-dependent vacuum energy which generates a dimensionful potential for the scalar. It provides a good example of dynamical generation of a new physics scale below $M$ through the vacuum expectation value $\langle \phi \rangle$. This mechanism may shed light on the origin of dark matter, or spontaneous symmetry breaking applicable to the electroweak symmetry., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

We analyze a novel signature of the type II seesaw model - same-sign tetra-lepton signal arising from the mixing of neutral Higgs bosons and their subsequent decays to singly and doubly charged Higgs bosons. For this, we consider wide ranges of the triplet vacuum expectation value (vev) and Yukawa couplings, that are consistent with the observed neutrino masses and mixing as well as the LHC search limits. We find that a doubly charged Higgs boson with mass around 250 GeV and triplet vev around $10^{-4}-10^{-2}$ GeV can give significantly large number of events through it decay to same-sign $W$ gauge bosons at High-Luminosity LHC with $3000 \text{fb}^{-1}$ of data. We also pursue the analysis for a future hadron collider with the c.m. energy of 100 TeV. Considering a heavy Higgs boson around 900 GeV and an intermediate region of the triplet vev, where both same-sign dilepton and gauge boson decays can occur, we identify a limited range of the parameters where the number of same-sign tetra-lepton events are as large as 1000., Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures

We study neutrino oscillations in a medium of dark matter which generalizes the standard matter effect. A general formula is derived to describe the effect of various mediums and their mediators to neutrinos. Neutrinos and anti-neutrinos receive opposite contributions from asymmetric distribution of (dark) matter and anti-matter, and thus it could appear in precision measurement of neutrino or anti-neutrino oscillations. Furthermore, the standard neutrino oscillation can occur from the symmetric dark matter effect even for massless neutrinos., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, more references and explanations are added

We explore the prospect of Yukawa production of a light boson which can exist in an extended Higgs sector. A particularly interesting case is the light pseudoscalar in Type-X two Higgs doublet model which can explain the anomalous magnetic moment of muon at large $\tan\beta$. Considering ILC $Higgs$ $factory$ with $\sqrt{s}=250$ GeV, we show that the available parameter space can be fully examined by the (tau) Yukawa process at $5\sigma$. We also demonstrate the mass reconstruction of such a light particle which helps to sizably minimize the background events., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures

We study the discovery prospect of different three body lepton number violating~(LNV) meson decays $M_{1}^{-}\to\ell_{1}^{-}\ell_{2}^{-}M_{2}^{+}$ in the framework of right handed~(RH) neutrino extended Standard Model~(SM). We consider a number of ongoing experiments, such as, NA62 and LHCb at CERN, Belle II at SuperKEK, as well as at the proposed future experiments, SHiP, MATHUSLA and FCC-ee. The RH Majorana neutrino $N$ mediating these meson decays provides a resonant enhancement of the rates, if the mass of $N$ lies in the range $(100\, \text{MeV}-6\, \text{GeV})$. We consider the effect of parent mesons velocity, as well as, the effect of finite detector size. Using the expected upper limits on the number of events for the LNV decay modes, $M_{1}^{-} \to\ell_1^{-}\ell_2^{-}\pi^{+}$~($M_{1}=B, B_c,D, D_{s}\,\text{and}\,K$), we analyze the sensitivity reach of the mixing angles $|V_{e N}|^{2}$, $|V_{\mu N}|^{2}$, $|V_{\tau N}|^{2}$, $|V_{e N}V_{\mu N}|$, $|V_{e N}V_{\tau N}|$ and $|V_{\mu N}V_{\tau N}|$ as a function of heavy neutrino mass $M_{N}$. We show that, inclusion of parent meson velocity can account to a large difference for active-sterile mixing, specially for $D$, $D_s$ meson decay at SHiP and $K$ meson decay at NA62. Taking into account the velocity of the $D_s$ meson, the future beam dump experiment SHiP can probe $|V_{eN}|^2 \sim 10^{-9}$. For RH neutrino mass in between 2 - 5 GeV, MATHUSLA can provide best sensitivity reach of active-sterile mixings., Comment: 40 pages, 46 figures

The CP violating two-Higgs doublet model of type-X may enhance significantly the electric and magnetic moment of leptons through two-loop Barr-Zee diagrams. We analyze the general parameter space of the type-X 2HDM consistent with the muon $g-2$ and the electron EDM measurements to show how strongly the CP violating parameter is constrained in the region explaining the muon $ g-2$ anomaly., Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures

Type-X two Higgs doublet model is known to explain the muon $g-2$ anomaly with a relatively light charged Higgs boson at large $\tan\beta$. The light charged Higgs boson has been searched in the main $\tau \nu$ mode at the colliders. Invoking a scenario of inverse seesaw as the origin of neutrino masses and mixing, the charged Higgs boson can decay additionally to right-handed neutrinos which leads to interesting phenomenology. Considering generic lepton flavour violating signatures at the final states, a $5\sigma$ discovery can be achieved with the early data of LHC, at 14 TeV, for relatively large inverse seesaw Yukawa coupling $Y_N$. The very light pseudoscalar and charged Higgs boson mass reconstruction are performed using the new modes and the results look promising. The inverse seesaw Yukawa coupling is shown to be probed down to $Y_N \sim 0.2$ at HL LHC with 3000 fb$^{-1}$., Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures and 9 tables, reference added

Standard Model may allow an extended gauge sector with anomaly-free flavored gauge symmetries, such as $L_{i} - L_{j}$, $B_{i} - L_{j}$, and $B - 3L_{i}$, where $i,j=1,2,3$ are flavor indices. We investigate phenomenological implications of the new flavored gauge boson $Z^{\prime}$ in the above three classes of gauge symmetries. Focusing on the gauge boson mass above 5 GeV, we use the lepton universality test in the $Z$ and $\tau/\mu$ decays, LEP searches, LHC searches, neutrino trident production bound, and LHC $Z\rightarrow 4\mu$ searches to put constraints on the $g^{\prime}-M_{Z^{\prime}}$ plane. When $L_1$ is involved, the LEP bounds on the $e^{-}e^{+} \rightarrow \ell^{-}\ell^{+}$ processes give the most stringent bounds, while the LHC bound becomes the strongest constraints in the large $M_{Z^{\prime}}$ region when $B_{i}$ is involved. The bound from $Z\rightarrow 4\mu$ productions, which is applicable for $L_2$-involved scenarios, provides stringent bounds in the small $M_{Z^{\prime}}$ region. One exception is the $B-3L_2$ scenario, in which case only a small region is favored due to the lepton universality., Comment: v3: updated LHC bounds for B-3L_i models

We analyze the prospects of reconstructing the mass of a heavy charged Higgs boson %have been analyzed in the context of a Type X two-Higgs doublet model where a light pseudoscalar $A$ in the mass range $40-60$ GeV is phenomenologically allowed, and is in fact favoured if one wants to explain the muon anomalous magnetic moment. The associated production of charged Higgs with the pseudoscalar $A$ and subsequent decay of the charged Higgs into a $W$ and $A$, is found to be our relevant channel. The branching ratio for $H^+ \to W^+ A$ with $M_{H^+} \sim 200$ GeV, is close to 50\%. The hadronic decay of the $W$ boson, coupled with the leptonic decays of $A$ into a tau and muon pair, help in identifying the charged Higgs. The neutral heavy Higgs, being degenerate with the charged Higgs for most of the allowed parameter space of the model, also contributes to similar final states. Thus both of these particles are reconstructed within a band of about 10 GeV., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

Analyzing the neutrino Yukawa effect in the freeze-out process of a generic dark matter candidate with right-handed neutrino portal, we identify the parameter regions satisfying the observed dark matter relic density as well as the current Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. limits and the future CTA reach on gamma-ray signals. In this scenario the dark matter couples to the Higgs boson at one-loop level and thus could be detected by spin-independent nucleonic scattering for a reasonable range of the relevant parameters., Comment: Matches with published version

We examine the theoretical motivations for long-lived particle (LLP) signals at the LHC in a comprehensive survey of Standard Model (SM) extensions. LLPs are a common prediction of a wide range of theories that address unsolved fundamental mysteries such as naturalness, dark matter, baryogenesis and neutrino masses, and represent a natural and generic possibility for physics beyond the SM (BSM). In most cases the LLP lifetime can be treated as a free parameter from the $\mu$m scale up to the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis limit of $\sim 10^7$m. Neutral LLPs with lifetimes above $\sim$ 100m are particularly difficult to probe, as the sensitivity of the LHC main detectors is limited by challenging backgrounds, triggers, and small acceptances. MATHUSLA is a proposal for a minimally instrumented, large-volume surface detector near ATLAS or CMS. It would search for neutral LLPs produced in HL-LHC collisions by reconstructing displaced vertices (DVs) in a low-background environment, extending the sensitivity of the main detectors by orders of magnitude in the long-lifetime regime. In this white paper we study the LLP physics opportunities afforded by a MATHUSLA-like detector at the HL-LHC. We develop a model-independent approach to describe the sensitivity of MATHUSLA to BSM LLP signals, and compare it to DV and missing energy searches at ATLAS or CMS. We then explore the BSM motivations for LLPs in considerable detail, presenting a large number of new sensitivity studies. While our discussion is especially oriented towards the long-lifetime regime at MATHUSLA, this survey underlines the importance of a varied LLP search program at the LHC in general. By synthesizing these results into a general discussion of the top-down and bottom-up motivations for LLP searches, it is our aim to demonstrate the exceptional strength and breadth of the physics case for the construction of the MATHUSLA detector., Comment: 213 pages, 73 figures. Extended Section 2 to add more detailed discussion of LLP reconstruction and analysis, and background rejection. Updated comparison of MATHUSLA RH neutrino sensitivity to other experiments. Updated analysis of long-lived ALPs produced in weak-scale processes and decaying to jets. Various clarifications, fixed typos, and added references. Results and conclusions unchanged

We present a comprehensive discussion of the phenomenology of flavourful axions, including both standard Peccei-Quinn (PQ) axions, associated with the solution to the strong $CP$ problem, and non-standard axion-like particles (ALPs). We give the flavourful axion-fermion and axion-photon couplings and calculate the branching ratios of heavy meson ($K$, $D$, $B$) decays involving a flavourful axion. We also calculate the mixing between axions and heavy mesons $ K^0 $, $ D^0 $, $ B^0 $ and $ B_s^0 $, which affects the meson oscillation probability and mass difference. Mixing also contributes to meson decays into axions and axion decays into two photons, and may be relevant for ALPs. We discuss charged lepton flavour-violating decays involving final state axions of the form $\ell_1 \to \ell_2 a (\gamma) $, as well as $ \mu \to eee $ and $ \mu-e $ conversion. Finally we describe the phenomenology of a particular "A to Z" Pati-Salam model, in which PQ symmetry arises accidentally due to discrete flavour symmetry. Here all axion couplings are fixed by a fit to flavour data, leading to sharp predictions and correlations between flavour-dependent observables., Comment: v1: 27 pages. v2: version to appear in JHEP. 31 pages. Extended discussion on axion basis, updated mixing bounds

We show how an accidental $U(1)$ Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry can arise from a discrete $A_4$ family symmetry combined with a discrete flavour symmetry $ \mathbb{Z}_3 \times \mathbb{Z}_5^2 $, in a realistic Pati-Salam unified theory of flavour. Imposing only these discrete flavour symmetries, the axion solution to the strong $ CP $ problem is protected from PQ-breaking operators to the required degree. A QCD axion arises from a linear combination of $ A_4 $ triplet flavons, which are also responsible for fermion flavour structures due to their vacuum alignments. We find that the requirement of an accidental PQ symmetry arising from a discrete flavour symmetry constrains the form of the Yukawa matrices, providing a link between flavour and the strong $ CP $ problem. Our model predicts specific flavour-violating couplings of the flavourful axion and thus puts a strong limit on the axion scale from kaon decays., Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures

Two-Higgs-Doublet Model of Type-X in the large $\tan\beta$ limit becomes leptophilic to allow a light pseudo-scalar $A$ and thus provides an explanation of the muon $g-2$ anomaly. Introducing a singlet scalar dark matter $S$ in this context, one finds that two important dark matter properties, nucleonic scattering and self-annihilation, are featured separately by individual couplings of dark matter to the two Higgs doublets. While one of the two couplings is strongly constrained by direct detection experiments, the other remains free to be adjusted for the relic density mainly through the process $SS\to AA$. This leads to the $4\tau$ final states which can be probed by galactic gamma ray detections., Comment: Accepted version in Physics Letters B

R-parity and baryon number violating operators can be allowed in the Supersymmetric Standard Model and thus lead to interesting baryon number violating processes such as neutron-antineutron oscillations and baryogenesis of the Universe via the decay of the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). Adopting the LSP baryogenesis mechanism realized by the late decay of the axino, we identify a single coupling lambda''_313 as a common origin for the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe as well as potentially observable neutron-antineutron oscillation rates. From this, rather strong constraints on the supersymmetry breaking masses and the axion decay constant are obtained. The favoured parameter space of lambda''_313 ~ 0.1 and sub-TeV masses for the relevant sparticles is readily accessible by the current and future LHC searches., Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, added references, version accepted for publication in JHEP

We investigate the detectability as well as reconstructibility of a light pseudoscalar particle $A$, of mass in the 50 - 60 GeV range, which is still allowed in a Type-X (lepton-specific) two-Higgs doublet scenario. Such a pseudoscalar can be pair-produced in the decay $h\to AA$ of the 125 GeV scalar $h$. The light pseudoscalar in the aforementioned range, helpful in explaining the muon anomalous magnetic moment, has not only substantial branching ratio in the $\tau^+\tau^-$ channel but also one of about $0.35\%$ in the $\mu^+\mu^-$ final state. We show how to faithfully reconstruct the $A$ mass using the $\mu^+\mu^-$ mode, and establish the existence of a pseudoscalar around 50 - 60 GeV, using the process $pp\to h \to AA\to \mu^+\mu^-\,\tau^+\tau^-$. This is the most reliable way of reconstructing the light $A$ mass, and is possible for an integrated luminosity of about $100~\rm{fb}^{-1}$ or less at 14 TeV, with a statistical significance that amounts to discovery., Comment: v2: version published in PLB. 13 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables

We investigate the Standard Model (SM) with a $U(1)_{B-L}$ gauge extension where a $B-L$ charged scalar is a viable dark matter (DM) candidate. The dominant annihilation process, for the DM particle is through the $B-L$ symmetry breaking scalar to right-handed neutrino pair. We exploit the effect of decay and inverse decay of the right-handed neutrino in thermal relic abundance of the DM. Depending on the values of the decay rate, the DM relic density can be significantly different from what is obtained in the standard calculation assuming the right-handed neutrino is in thermal equilibrium and there appear different regions of the parameter space satisfying the observed DM relic density. For a DM mass less than $\mathcal{O}$(TeV), the direct detection experiments impose a competitive bound on the mass of the $U(1)_{B-L}$ gauge boson $Z^\prime$ with the collider experiments. Utilizing the non-observation of the displaced vertices arising from the right-handed neutrino decays, bound on the mass of $Z^\prime$ has been obtained at present and higher luminosities at the LHC with 14 TeV centre of mass energy where an integrated luminosity of 100fb$^{-1}$ is sufficient to probe $m_{Z'} \sim 5.5$ TeV., Comment: Matches with published version

We present a study of the Very Degenerate Higgsino Dark Matter (DM), whose mass splitting between the lightest neutral and charged components is ${\cal O}$(1) MeV, much smaller than radiative splitting of 355 MeV. The scenario is realized in the minimal supersymmetric standard model by small gaugino mixing. In contrast to the pure Higgsino DM with the radiative splitting only, various observable signatures with distinct features are induced. First of all, the very small mass splitting makes (a) sizable Sommerfeld enhancement and Ramsauer-Townsend (RT) suppression relevant to ~1 TeV Higgsino DM, and (b) Sommerfeld-Ramsauer-Townsend effect saturate at lower velocities $v/c \lesssim 10^{-3}$. As a result, annihilation signals can be large enough to be observed from the galactic center and/or dwarf galaxies, while relative signal sizes can vary depending on the location of Sommerfeld peaks and RT dips. In addition, at collider experiments, stable chargino signature can be searched for to probe the model in the future. DM direct detection signal, however, depends on the Wino mass; even no detectable signal can be induced if the Wino is heavier than about 10 TeV., Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures

The type X (lepton-specific) two-Higgs-doublet model at large $\tan\beta$ becomes leptophilic and thus allows a light pseudoscalar $A$ accommodating the observed muon $g-2$ deviation without conflicting with various hadronic constraints. On the other hand, it is strongly constrained by leptonic precision observables such as lepton universality test in the neutral and charged currents. Treating all the lepton universality data in a consistent way, we show how the current data constrain the parameter space of $m_A$ and $\tan\beta$ for given degenerate masses of heavy Higgs bosons $H$ and $H^\pm$. While no overlapping region is found at $1\sigma$, a sizable region is still viable at $2\sigma$ for $H/H^\pm$ masses at around 200$\sim$400 GeV., Comment: 11 pages; v2: 14 pages, 1 figure, version to be published in JHEP

Motivated by the naturalness and neutrino mass generation, we study a bilinear R-parity violating supersymmetric scenario with a light Higgsino-like lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). We observe that the LSP dominantly decays to $\nu h$ in a large part of the parameter space, and thus study the pair production of electroweakinos followed by the decays $\tilde\chi^\pm_1\to \tilde\chi^0_1 W^{\pm*}$ and $\tilde\chi^0_1\to \nu h$. This leads to an interesting signature of Higgs boson pair production associated with significantly large missing transverse energy which is grossly distinct from the di-Higgs production in the Standard Model. We investigate the perspective of probing such signatures by performing a realistic detector level simulation of both the signal and corresponding backgrounds for the high-luminosity high energy phase of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We also advocate some observables based on kinematical features to provide an excellent handle to suppress the backgrounds., Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures and 6 tables

Updating various theoretical and experimental constraints on the four different types of two-Higgs-doublet models (2HDMs), we find that only the ``lepton-specific" (or ``type X") 2HDM can explain the present muon g$-$2 anomaly in the parameter region of large $\tan\beta$, a light CP-odd boson, and heavier CP-even and charged bosons which are almost degenerate. The severe constraints on the models come mainly from the consideration of vacuum stability and perturbativity, the electroweak precision data, the $b$-quark observables like $B_S \to \mu\mu$, the precision measurements of the lepton universality as well as the 125 GeV boson property observed at the LHC., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, prepared for a review article in Pramana and the proceedings of FCCP2015. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1505.00491

The PQ mechanism resolving the strong CP problem and the seesaw mechanism explaining the smallness of neutrino masses may be related in a way that the PQ symmetry breaking scale and the seesaw scale arise from a common origin. Depending on how the PQ symmetry and the seesaw mechanism are realized, one has different predictions on the color and electromagnetic anomalies which could be tested in the future axion dark matter search experiments. Motivated by this, we construct various PQ seesaw models which are minimally extended from the (non-) supersymmetric Standard Model and thus set up different benchmark points on the axion-photon-photon coupling in comparison with the standard KSVZ and DFSZ models., Comment: 12 pages and 2 figures, references added, matched with the published version in PLB

The lepton-sepcific (or type X) 2HDM (L2HDM) is an attractive new physics candidate explaining the muon $g-2$ anomaly requiring a light CP-odd boson $A$ and large $\tan\beta$. This scenario leads to $\tau$-rich signatures, such as $3\tau$, $4\tau$ and $4\tau+W/Z$, which can be readily accessible at the LHC. We first study the whole L2HDM parameter space to identify allowed regions of extra Higgs boson masses as well as two couplings $\lambda_{hAA}$ and $\xi_h^l$ which determine the 125 GeV Higgs boson decays $h\to \tau^+\tau^-$ and $h\to AA/AA^*(\tau^+\tau^-)$, respectively. This motivates us to set up two regions of interest: (A) $m_A \ll m_{H} \sim m_{H^\pm}$, and (B) $m_A \sim m_{H^\pm} \sim {\cal O}(100) \mbox{GeV} \ll m_H$, for which derive the current constraints by adopting the chargino-neutralino search at the LHC8, and then analyze the LHC14 prospects by implementing $\tau$-tagging algorithm. A correlated study of the upcoming precision determination of the 125 GeV Higgs boson decay properties as well as the observation of multi-tau events at the next runs of LHC will be able to shed light on the L2HDM option for the muon $g-2$., Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures

We update indirect constraints on Electro-Weak Dark Matter (EWDM) considering the Sommerfeld-Ramsauer-Townsend (SRT) effect for its annihilations into a pair of standard model gauge bosons assuming that EWDM accounts for the observed dark matter (DM) relic density for a given DM mass and mass gaps among the multiplet components. For the radiative or smaller mass splitting, the hypercharged triplet and higher multiplet EWDMs are ruled out up to the DM mass ~ 10 - 20 TeV by the combination of the most recent data from AMS-02 (antiproton), Fermi-LAT (gamma-ray), and HESS (gamma-line). The Majorana triplet (wino-like) EWDM can evade all the indirect constraints only around Ramsauer-Townsend dips which can occur for a tiny mass splitting of order 10 MeV or less. In the case of the doublet (Higgsino-like) EWDM, a wide range of its mass > 500 GeV is allowed except Sommerfeld peak regions. Such a stringent limit on the triplet DM can be evaded by employing a larger mass gap of the order of 10 GeV which allows its mass larger than about 1 TeV. However, the future CTA experiment will be able to cover most of the unconstrained parameter space., Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures; result for an O(10 GeV) mass gap, future sensitivity of CTA, and references added

Updating various theoretical and experimental constraints on the four different types of two-Higgs-doublet models (2HDMs), we find that only the "lepton-specific" (or "type X") 2HDM can explain the present muon (g-2) anomaly in the parameter region of large $\tan\beta$, a light CP-odd Higgs boson, and heavier CP-even and charged Higgs bosons which are almost degenerate. The severe constraints on the models come mainly from the consideration of vacuum stability and perturbativity, the electroweak precision data, $B$ physics observables like $b\to s \gamma$ as well as the 125 GeV Higgs boson properties measured at the LHC., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Prepared for the proceedings of the 2nd Toyama International Workshop on Higgs as a Probe of New Physics (HPNP 2015), February 11-15, 2015

We propose a new mechanism to suppress the axion isocurvature perturbation, while producing the right amount of axion dark matter, within the framework of supersymmetric axion models with the axion scale induced by supersymmetry breaking. The mechanism involves an intermediate phase transition to generate the Higgs \mu-parameter, before which the weak scale is comparable to the axion scale and the resulting stronger QCD yields an axion mass heavier than the Hubble scale over a certain period. Combined with that the Hubble-induced axion scale during the primordial inflation is well above the intermediate axion scale at present, the stronger QCD in the early Universe suppresses the axion fluctuation to be small enough even when the inflationary Hubble scale saturates the current upper bound, while generating an axion misalignment angle of order unity., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure; v2: discussion extended, references added, typos corrected

We consider a $U(1)'$ supersymmetric seesaw model in which a right-handed sneutrino is a thermal dark matter candidate whose relic density can be in the right range due to its coupling to relatively light $\tilde{Z'}$, the superpartner of the extra gauge boson $Z'$. Such light $\tilde Z'$ can be produced at the LHC through cascade decays of colored superparticles, in particular, stops and sbottoms, and then decay to a right-handed neutrino and a sneutrino dark matter, which leads to lepton flavor violating signals of same/opposite-sign dileptons (or multileptons) accompanied by large missing energy. Taking some benchmark points, we analyze the opposite- and same-sign dilepton signatures and the corresponding flavour difference i.e., ($2e-2\mu$). It is shown that $5\sigma$ signal significance can be reached for some benchmark points with very early data of $\sim 2$ fb$^{-1}$ integrated luminosity. In addition, $3\ell$ and $4\ell$ signatures also look promising to check the consistency in the model prediction, and it is possible to reconstruct the $\tilde{Z'}$ mass from $jj\ell$ invariant mass distribution., Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, journal version with references added

We examine dark matter production rates in supersymmetric axion models typified by the mass hierarchy m_gravitino << m_neutralino << m_axino. In such models, one expects the dark matter to be composed of an axion/gravitino admixture. After presenting motivation for how such a mass hierarchy might arise, we examine dark matter production in the SUSY Kim-Shifman-Vainshtein-Zakharov (KSVZ) model, the SUSY Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky (DFSZ) model and a hybrid model containing contributions from both KSVZ and DFSZ. Gravitinos can be produced thermally and also non-thermally from axino, saxion or neutralino decay. We obtain upper bounds on T_R due to overproduction of gravitinos including both the thermal and non-thermal processes. For T_R near the upper bound, then dark matter tends to be gravitino dominated, but for T_R well below the upper bounds, then axion domination is more typical although in many cases we find a comparable mixture of both axions and gravitinos. In this class of models, we ultimately expect detection of relic axions but no WIMP signal, although SUSY should ultimately be discovered at colliders., Comment: 38 pages with 11 figures, PRD accepted version