Search

We formulate general conditions under which the strong CP problem is solved by spontaneous CP violation. Quark-mass matrix elements are polynomials in the CP-breaking order parameters, engineered such that their determinant is a real constant. This scheme permits only a limited number of textures. These conditions can be realized in supersymmetric theories with CP as an anomaly-free local flavour symmetry, suggesting a unified solution to the strong CP problem and the flavour puzzle. Our solution can be implemented using either modular invariance or a local U(1) symmetry. We present modular-invariant realizations where matter fields are assigned small modular weights $\pm2$ ($\pm1$), utilising higher levels $N=2$ ($N=3$). Heavy quarks are in general not required, but their presence allows for models where colored particles fill non-singlet representations of the flavour group., Comment: 44 pages. Final version to appear on JHEP. Webinar presentation: https://youtu.be/iu7i_PvJyTo

We propose a theory that preserves spin-summed scattering and decay rates at tree level while affecting particle spins. This is achieved by breaking the Lorentz group in a non-local way that tries avoiding stringent constraints, for example leaving unbroken the maximal sub-group SIM(2). As a phenomenological application, this new physics can alter the spins of top-antitop pairs (and consequently their entanglement) produced in $pp$ collisions without impacting their rates. Some observables affected by loops involving top quarks with modified entanglement receive corrections., Comment: 18 pages. Webinar presentation: https://youtu.be/HqBRXAHJn7k

In the framework of the low-energy effective theory containing in addition to the Standard Model fields heavy neutral leptons (HNLs), we compute the decay rates of neutral and charged kaons into HNLs. We consider both lepton-number-conserving and lepton-number-violating four-fermion operators, taking into account also the contribution of active-heavy neutrino mixing. Assuming that the produced HNLs are long-lived, we perform simulations and calculate the sensitivities of future long-lived-particle (LLP) detectors at the high-luminosity LHC as well as the near detector of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE-ND) to the considered scenario. When applicable, we also recast the existing bounds on the minimal mixing case obtained by NA62, T2K, and PS191. Our findings show that while the future LHC LLP detectors can probe currently allowed parameter space only in certain benchmark scenarios, DUNE-ND should be sensitive to parameter space beyond the current bounds in almost all the benchmark scenarios and for some of the effective operators considered it can even probe new-physics scales in excess of 3000 TeV., Comment: Sensitivity curves for DUNE-ND added in the plots. Paper accepted for publication in PRD

We consider the dipole portal to sterile neutrinos, also called heavy neutral leptons (HNLs). The dipole interaction with the photon leads to HNL production in meson decays, as well as triggers the HNL decay into an active neutrino and a photon. HNLs with masses of order of 0.01-1 GeV are naturally long-lived if the dipole coupling is sufficiently small. We perform Monte-Carlo simulations and derive the sensitivities of the proposed FASER2 and FACET long-lived particle experiments to HNLs produced via the dipole operator in meson decays at the high-luminosity LHC. Our findings show that these future detectors will be complementary to each other, as well as to existing experiments, and will be able to probe new parts of the parameter space, especially in the case of the dipole operator coupled to the tau neutrino., Comment: 16 pages+refs, 5 figures, 2 tables, to match the PRD version

String compactifications on an orbi-folded torus with complex structure give rise to chiral fermions, spontaneously broken CP, modular invariance. We show that this allows simple effective theories of flavour and CP where: i) the QCD angle vanishes; ii) the CKM phase is large; iii) quark and lepton masses and mixings can be reproduced up to order one coefficients. We implement such general paradigm in supersymmetry or supergravity, with modular forms or functions, with or without heavy colored states., Comment: 32 pages, 2 figures, webinar presentation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0Vs5ykY36Y. Final version to appear on JHEP with extended discussion on the solution in supergravity

Many models beyond the Standard Model predict light and feebly interacting particles that are often long-lived. These long-lived particles (LLPs) in many cases can be produced from meson decays. In this work, we propose a simple and quick reinterpretation method for models predicting LLPs produced from meson decays. With the method, we are not required to run Monte-Carlo simulation, implement detector geometries and efficiencies, or apply experimental cuts in an event analysis, as typically done in recasting and reinterpretation works. The main ingredients our method requires are only the theoretical input, allowing for computation of the production and decay rates of the LLPs. There are two conditions for the method to work: firstly, the LLPs in the models considered should be produced from a set of mesons with similar mass and lifetime (or the same meson) and second, the LLPs should, in general, have a lab-frame decay length much larger than the distance between the interaction point and the detector. As an example, we use this method to reinterpret exclusion bounds on heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) in the minimal ``3+1'' scenario, into those for HNLs in the general effective-field-theory framework as well as for axion-like particles. We are able to reproduce existing results, and obtain new bounds via reinterpretation of past experimental results, in particular, from CHARM and Belle., Comment: v1: 25 pages + refs, 8 figures, 6 tables; v2, minor revisions, accepted for publication in JHEP

In the framework of the low-energy effective field theory of the Standard Model extended with heavy neutral leptons (HNLs), we calculate the production rates of HNLs from meson decays triggered by dimension-six operators. We consider both lepton-number-conserving and lepton-number-violating four-fermion operators involving either a pair of HNLs or a single HNL. Assuming that HNLs are long-lived, we perform simulations and investigate the reach of the proposed far detectors at the high-luminosity LHC to (i) active-heavy neutrino mixing and (ii) the Wilson coefficients associated with the effective operators, for HNL masses below the mass of the $B$-meson. We further convert the latter to the associated new-physics scales. Our results show that scales in excess of hundreds of TeV and the active-heavy mixing squared as small as $10^{-15}$ can be probed by these experiments., Comment: Comments and references added; results unchanged; matches version accepted for publication in JHEP

Finding a rationale behind the observed pattern of neutrino mixings has been at the focus of neutrino flavor model building. Many different approaches have been put forward including models based on symmetries. Among the most predictive models based on symmetries are models which predict not only the mixing parameters but also correlations between them. These mixing sum rules allow to probe flavor models in the future. In this white paper we collect the predictions for the mixing parameters from flavor models based on discrete symmetries broken to certain residual symmetries of the lepton mass matrices and from models with modular symmetries to contrast them with bounds from current and future oscillations experiments., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, contribution to Snowmass 2021

Stringent constraints on the interactions of dark matter with the Standard Model suggest that dark matter does not take part in gauge interactions. In this regard, the possibility of communicating between the visible and dark sectors via gauge singlets seems rather natural. We consider a framework where the dark matter talks to the Standard Model through its coupling to sterile neutrinos, which generate active neutrino masses. We focus on the case of Majorana dark matter, with its relic abundance set by thermal freeze-out through annihilations into sterile neutrinos. We use an effective field theory approach to study the possible sterile neutrino portals to dark matter. We find that both lepton-number-conserving and lepton-number-violating operators are possible, yielding an interesting connection with the Dirac/Majorana character of active neutrinos. In a second step, we open the different operators and outline the possible renormalisable models. We analyse the phenomenology of the most promising ones, including a particular case in which the Majorana mass of the sterile neutrinos is generated radiatively., Comment: 33 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables; Sec. 2.2.1 extended; App. A.2 on the departure from kinetic equilibrium between the dark sector and the SM, including two new figures, added; Figs. 2, 4 and 6 updated; several comments and references added; typos corrected; matches version published in JHEP

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 $N_R$SMEFT, 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 $N_R$SMEFT 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., Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; Fig. 1 updated with the latest CMS constraints; several comments and references added; results unchanged; matches version published in JHEP

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 $N_R$SMEFT, 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., Comment: v1, 36 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, and 2 appendices; v2, minor changes, accepted for publication in JHEP

We compute the leading-logarithmic correction to the neutrino mass matrix in the Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT) to dimension seven. In the limit of negligible lepton and down-type quark Yukawa couplings, it receives contributions from the Weinberg dimension-five operator as well as from 11 dimension-six and five dimension-seven independent interactions. Two of the main implications we derive from this result are the following. First, we find dimension-seven operators which, despite violating lepton number, do not renormalise neutrino masses at one loop. And second, we demonstrate that the presence of dimension-six operators around the TeV scale can modify the Standard Model prediction by up to $\mathcal{O}(50\,\%)$. Our result comprises also one step forward towards the renormalisation of the SMEFT to order $v^3/\Lambda^3$., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables; several comments and references added; typos corrected; matches version published in PRD

We discuss fermion mass hierarchies within modular invariant flavour models. We analyse the neighbourhood of the self-dual point $\tau=i$, where modular invariant theories possess a residual $Z_4$ invariance. In this region the breaking of $Z_4$ can be fully described by the spurion $\epsilon \approx \tau - i$, that flips its sign under $Z_4$. Degeneracies or vanishing eigenvalues of fermion mass matrices, forced by the $Z_4$ symmetry at $\tau=i$, are removed by slightly deviating from the self-dual point. Relevant mass ratios are controlled by powers of $|\epsilon|$. We present examples where this mechanism is a key ingredient to successfully implement an hierarchical spectrum in the lepton sector, even in the presence of a non-minimal K\"ahler potential., Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures, 5 tables; numerical analysis updated using the NuFIT 5.0 results; several comments and references added; typos corrected; matches version published in JHEP

We compute the one-loop running of the dimension-six CP-even Higgs operators in the Standard Model effective field theory involving the right-handed component of the would-be Dirac neutrinos. We discuss the implications of a large Dirac neutrino magnetic dipole moment. In particular, we demonstrate that a neutrino magnetic moment explaining the recent XENON1T excess induces Higgs and $Z$ invisible decays with branching ratios in the range $[10^{-18}, 10^{-12}]$. These numbers are unfortunately beyond the reach of current and near future facilities., Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, 1 matrix; Feynman diagrams made nicer; typos corrected; matches version published in JHEP

Non-Abelian discrete symmetries provide an interesting opportunity to address the flavor puzzle in the lepton sector. However, the number of currently viable models based on such symmetries is rather large. High-precision measurements of the leptonic mixing parameters by future neutrino experiments, including ESSnuSB, T2HK, DUNE, and JUNO, will be crucial to test such models. We show that the complementarity among these experiments offers a powerful tool for narrowing down this broad class of lepton flavor models., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; several comments and references added; matches version published in PRD

We argue that in models with several high scales; e.g. in composite Higgs models or in gauge extensions of the Standard Model (SM), vector-like leptons can be likely produced in a relatively large $\sqrt{s}$ region of the phase space. Likewise, they can easily decay into final states not containing SM gauge bosons. This contrasts with the topology in which these new particles are being searched for at the LHC. Adopting an effective field theory approach, we show that searches for excited leptons must be used instead to test this scenario. We derive bounds on all the relevant interactions of dimension six; the most constrained ones being of about $0.05$ TeV$^{-2}$. We build new observables to improve current analyses and study the impact on all single-field UV completions of the SM extended with a vector-like lepton that can be captured by the effective field theory at tree level, in the current and in the high-luminosity phase of the LHC., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 8 tables; several comments and references added; typos corrected; matches version published in PLB

We review and investigate lepton flavor models, stemming from discrete non-Abelian flavor symmetries, described by one or two free model parameters. First, we confront eleven one- and seven two-parameter models with current results on leptonic mixing angles from global fits to neutrino oscillation data. We find that five of the one- and five of the two-parameter models survive the confrontation test at $3\sigma$. Second, we investigate how these ten one- and two-parameter lepton flavor models may be discriminated at the proposed ESSnuSB experiment in Sweden. We show that the three one-parameter models that predict $\sin\delta_{\rm CP}=0$ can be distinguished from those two that predict $|\sin\delta_{\rm CP}|=1$ by at least $7\sigma$. Finally, we find that three of the five one-parameter models can be excluded by at least $5\sigma$ and two of the one-parameter as well as at most two of the five two-parameter models can be excluded by at least $3\sigma$ with ESSnuSB if the true values of the leptonic mixing parameters remain close to the present best-fit values., Comment: 38 pages, 12 figures, 10 tables; several comments added; typos corrected; matches version published in JHEP

We study the phenomenology of the simplest renormalisable model that, at low energy, leads to the effective field theory of the Standard Model extended with right-handed neutrinos ($\nu$SMEFT). Our aim is twofold. First, to contextualise new collider signatures in models with sterile neutrinos so far studied only using the bottom-up approach. And second and more important, to provide a thorough example of one-loop matching in the diagrammatic approach, of which other matching techniques and automatic tools can benefit for cross-checks. As byproducts of this work, we provide for the first time: (i) a complete off-shell basis for the $\nu$SMEFT and explicit relations between operators linked by equations of motion; (ii) a complete basis for the low-energy effective field theory ($\nu$LEFT) and the tree-level matching onto the $\nu$SMEFT; (iii) partial one-loop anomalous dimensions in the $\nu$LEFT. This way, our work comprises a new step forward towards the systematisation of one-loop computations in effective field theories, especially if the SM neutrinos are Dirac., Comment: 36 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables; Appendix C on matching renormalisable terms with four new figures added; Tab. 4 containing all $\nu$LEFT dimension-six lepton number violating operators involving a sterile neutrino added; Fig. 6 in v1 and the corresponding discussion removed; several comments and references added; typos corrected; matches version published in JHEP

Physics beyond the Standard Model can manifest itself as both new light states and heavy degrees of freedom. In this paper, we assume that the former comprise only a sterile neutrino, $N$. Therefore, the most agnostic description of the new physics is given by an effective field theory built upon the Standard Model fields as well as $N$. We show that Higgs phenomenology provides a sensitive and potentially crucial tool to constrain effective gauge interactions of sterile neutrinos, not yet probed by current experiments. In parallel, this motivates a range of new Higgs decay channels with clean signatures as candidates for the next LHC runs, including $h\to \gamma+p_T^\text{miss}$ and $h\to \gamma\gamma+p_T^\text{miss}$., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; several comments and references added; typos corrected; matches version published in PRD

If neutrinos are Dirac particles and, as suggested by the so far null LHC results, any new physics lies at energies well above the electroweak scale, the Standard Model effective field theory has to be extended with operators involving the right-handed neutrinos. In this paper, we study this effective field theory and set constraints on the different dimension-six interactions. To that aim, we use LHC searches for associated production of light (and tau) leptons with missing energy, monojet searches, as well as pion and tau decays. Our bounds are generally above the TeV for order one couplings. One particular exception is given by operators involving top quarks. These provide new signals in top decays not yet studied at colliders. Thus, we also design an LHC analysis to explore these signatures in the $t\overline{t}$ production. Our results are also valid if the right-handed neutrinos are Majorana and long-lived., Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, 7 tables; typos corrected; matches version published in JHEP