Minimal flavour seesaw models
26 pages, 8 figures.-- ArXiv pre-print available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/0906.1461
Neutrino mixing and CP-violation
The prospects of measuring the leptonic angles and CP-odd phases at a neutrino factory are discussed in two scenarios: 1) three active neutrinos as indicated by the present ensemble of atmospheric plus solar data; 2) three active plus one sterile neutrino when the LSND signal is also taken into account. For the latter we develop one and two mass dominance approximations. The appearance of wrong sign muons in long baseline experiments and tau leptons in short baseline ones provides the best tests of CP-violation in scenarios 1) and 2), respectively.
Low-energy couplings of QCD from current correlators near the chiral limit
We investigate a new numerical procedure to compute fermionic correlation functions at very small quark masses. Large statistical fluctuations, due to the presence of local ``bumps'' in the wave functions associated with the low-lying eigenmodes of the Dirac operator, are reduced by an exact low-mode averaging. To demonstrate the feasibility of the technique, we compute the two-point correlator of the left-handed vector current with Neuberger fermions in the quenched approximation, for lattices with a linear extent of L~1.5 fm, a lattice spacing a~0.09 fm, and quark masses down to the epsilon-regime. By matching the results with the corresponding (quenched) chiral perturbation theory expres…
Interpolation of non-abelian lattice gauge fields
We propose a method for interpolating non-abelian lattice gauge fields to the continuum, or to a finer lattice, which satisfies the properties of (i) transverse continuity, (ii) (lattice) rotation and translation covariance, (iii) gauge covariance, (iv) locality. These are the properties required for use in our earlier proposal for non-perturbative formulation and simulation of chiral gauge theories.
Probing the chiral regime of Nf=2 QCD with mixed actions
17 páginas, 15 figuras, 9 tablas.-- El Pdf es la versión pre-print del artículo: arXiv:1008.1870v2
Probing the chiral weak Hamiltonian at finite volumes
Non-leptonic kaon decays are often described through an effective chiral weak Hamiltonian, whose couplings ("low-energy constants") encode all non-perturbative QCD physics. It has recently been suggested that these low-energy constants could be determined at finite volumes by matching the non-perturbatively measured three-point correlation functions between the weak Hamiltonian and two left-handed flavour currents, to analytic predictions following from chiral perturbation theory. Here we complete the analytic side in two respects: by inspecting how small ("epsilon-regime") and intermediate or large ("p-regime") quark masses connect to each other, and by including in the discussion the two …
Low-scale seesaw models versusNeff
We consider the contribution of the extra sterile states in generic low-scale seesaw models to extra radiation, parametrized by ${N}_{\text{eff}}$. We find that the value of ${N}_{\text{eff}}$ is roughly independent of the seesaw scale within a wide range. We explore the full parameter space in the case of two extra sterile states and find that these models are strongly constrained by cosmological data for any value of the seesaw scale below $\mathcal{O}(100\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV})$.
Locality properties of Neuberger's lattice Dirac operator
The gauge covariant lattice Dirac operator D which has recently been proposed by Neuberger satisfies the Ginsparg-Wilson relation and thus preserves chiral symmetry. The operator also avoids a doubling of fermion species, but its locality properties are not obvious. We now prove that D is local (with exponentially decaying tails) if the gauge field is sufficiently smooth at the scale of the cutoff. Further analytic and numerical studies moreover suggest that the locality of the operator is in fact guaranteed under far more general conditions.
Effects of feeding strategies including different proportion of pasture and concentrate, on carcass and meat quality traits in Uruguayan steers
Abstract Eighty four steers were randomly assigned to three pasture treatments with increasing levels of grain (T1: 0%; T2: 0.6%; T3: 1.2% of live weight) and to an ad libitum concentrate treatment, T4, to study the effects on carcass and meat quality. Animals were slaughtered with 500 kg of average live weight per treatment. Average daily gain increased with increasing levels of energy, determining different slaughter dates. Intermediate treatments showed higher carcass weight than T1. T4 and T3 had a higher weight of valuable cuts than T1 and T4. Pistolas from T4 had a higher fat proportion and lower bone percentage. Increasing levels of energy in diet decreased fat yellowness. After 20 d…
Towards N=1 Super-Yang-Mills on the Lattice
We consider the lattice regularization of N=1 supersymmetric Yang--Mills theory with Wilson fermions. This formulation breaks supersymmetry at any finite lattice spacing; we discuss how Ward identities can be used to define a supersymmetric continuum limit, which coincides with the point where the gluino becomes massless. As a first step towards the understanding of the zero gluino-mass limit, we present results on the quenched low-lying spectrum of SU(2) N=1 Super-Yang--Mills, at $\beta=2.6$ on a $V=16^3 \times 32$ lattice, in the OZI approximation. Our results, in spite of the quenched and OZI approximations, are in remarkable agreement with theoretical predictions in the supersymmetric t…
La palabra secreta
En este juego predomina la expresión oral como destreza que debe desarrollar,aprovechando la obligación que se le impone de pensar rápidamente, puesto que existe un límite de tiempo que corre en su contra. Dependiendo del nivel escogido, será mayor o menor el tiempo del que dispone el concursante, y de este modo un alumno avanzado tendrá que apresurarse más que aquellos que se inician en el español, a los que se les otorgarán más minutos.
Physics at a future Neutrino Factory and super-beam facility
The conclusions of the Physics Working Group of the international scoping study of a future Neutrino Factory and super-beam facility (the ISS) are presented. The ISS was carried by the international community between NuFact05, (the 7th International Workshop on Neutrino Factories and Superbeams, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Rome, June 21-26, 2005) and NuFact06 (Ivine, California, 24{30 August 2006). The physics case for an extensive experimental programme to understand the properties of the neutrino is presented and the role of high-precision measurements of neutrino oscillations within this programme is discussed in detail. The performance of second generation super-beam experiments, …
Testing chiral effective theory with quenched lattice QCD
We investigate two-point correlation functions of left-handed currents computed in quenched lattice QCD with the Neuberger-Dirac operator. We consider two lattice spacings a ~ 0.09, 0.12 fm and two different lattice extents L ~ 1.5, 2.0 fm; quark masses span both the p- and the epsilon-regimes. We compare the results with the predictions of quenched chiral perturbation theory, with the purpose of testing to what extent the effective theory reproduces quenched QCD at low energy. In the p-regime we test volume and quark mass dependence of the pseudoscalar decay constant and mass; in the epsilon-regime, we investigate volume and topology dependence of the correlators. While the leading order b…
Optimal β-beam at the CERN-SPS
A β-beam with maximum (for 6He ions) or (for 18Ne) could be achieved at the CERN-SPS. We study the sensitivity to and δ of such a beam as function of γ, optimizing with the baseline constrained to CERN–Frejus (130 km), and also with simultaneous variation of the baseline, for a fixed ion flux. These results are compared to the standard scenario previously considered, with lower , and also with a higher option that requires a more powerful accelerator. We conclude that the sensitivity to CP violation and increases significantly with γ if the baseline is increased proportionally, while for the CERN–Frejus scenario the dependence on γ is mild provided γ is above 100.
Precision on leptonic mixing parameters at future neutrino oscillation experiments
Journal of High Energy Physics 2012.6 (2012): 73 reproduced by permission of Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA)
Low-energy couplings of QCD from topological zero-mode wave functions
By matching 1/m^2 divergences in finite-volume two-point correlation functions of the scalar or pseudoscalar densities with those obtained in chiral perturbation theory, we derive a relation between the Dirac operator zero-mode eigenfunctions at fixed non-trivial topology and the low-energy constants of QCD. We investigate the feasibility of using this relation to extract the pion decay constant, by computing the zero-mode correlation functions on the lattice in the quenched approximation and comparing them with the corresponding expressions in quenched chiral perturbation theory.
A Lattice Construction of Chiral Gauge Theories
We formulate chiral gauge theories non-perturbatively, using two different cuttoffs for the fermions and gauge bosons. We use a lattice with spacing $b$ to regulate the gauge fields in standard fashion, while computing the chiral fermion determinant on a finer lattice with spacing $f << b$. This determinant is computed in the background of $f$-lattice gauge fields, obtained by gauge-covariantly interpolating $b$-lattice gauge fields. The notorious doublers that plague lattice theories containing fermions are decoupled by the addition of a Wilson term. In chiral theories such a term breaks gauge invariance explicitly. However, the advantage of the two-cutoff regulator is that gauge inv…
Minimal flavor violation in the see-saw portal
We consider an extension of the Standard Model with two singlet leptons, with masses in the electroweak range, that induce neutrino masses via the see-saw mechanism, plus a generic new physics sector at a higher scale, $\Lambda$. We apply the minimal flavor violation (MFV) principle to the corresponding Effective Field Theory ($\nu$SMEFT) valid at energy scales $E \ll \Lambda$. We identify the irreducible sources of lepton flavor and lepton number violation at the renormalizable level, and apply the MFV ans\"atz to derive the scaling of the Wilson coefficients of the $\nu$SMEFT operators up to dimension six. We highlight the most important phenomenological consequences of this hypothesis in…
Probing the neutrino mass hierarchy with Super-Kamiokande
We show that for recently discovered large values of theta(13), a superbeam with an average neutrino energy of ~ 5 GeV, such as those being proposed at CERN, if pointing to Super-Kamiokande (L = 8770 km), could reveal the neutrino mass hierarchy at 5 sigma in less than two years irrespective of the true hierarchy and CP phase. The measurement relies on the near resonant matter effect in the numu to nue oscillation channel, and can be done counting the total number of appearance events with just a neutrino beam.
Minimal models with light sterile neutrinos
We study the constraints imposed by neutrino oscillation experiments on the minimal extensions of the Standard Model (SM) with $n_R$ gauge singlet fermions ("right-handed neutrinos"), that can account for neutrino masses. We consider the most general coupling to SM fields of the new fields, in particular those that break lepton number and we do not assume any a priori hierarchy in the mass parameters. We proceed to analyze these models starting from the lowest level of complexity, defined by the number of extra fermionic degrees of freedom. The simplest choice that has enough free parameters in principle (i.e. two mass differences and two angles) to explain the confirmed solar and atmospher…
Leptogenesis from oscillations and dark matter
An extension of the Standard Model with Majorana singlet fermions in the 1–100 GeV range can explain the light neutrino masses and give rise to a baryon asymmetry at freeze-in of the heavy states, via their CP-violating oscillations. In this paper we consider extending this scenario to also explain dark matter. We find that a very weakly coupled B−L gauge boson, an invisible QCD axion model, and the singlet majoron model can simultaneously account for dark matter and the baryon asymmetry.
Superbeams plus neutrino factory: The golden path to leptonic CP violation
Superbeams (SB) and Neutrino Factories (NF) are not alternative facilities for exploring neutrino oscillation physics, but successive steps. The correct strategy is to contemplate the combination of their expected physics results. We show its important potential on the disappearance of fake degenerate solutions in the simultaneous measurement of $\theta_{13}$ and leptonic CP violation. Intrinsic, sign($\Delta m_{13}^2$) and $\theta_{23}$ degeneracies are shown to be extensively eliminated when the results from one NF baseline and a SB facility are combined. A key point is the different average neutrino energy and baseline of the facilities. For values of $\theta_{13}$ near its present limit…
Non-perturbative renormalization of the quark condensate in Ginsparg-Wilson regularizations
We present a method to compute non-perturbatively the renormalization constant of the scalar density for Ginsparg-Wilson fermions. It relies on chiral symmetry and is based on a matching of renormalization group invariant masses at fixed pseudoscalar meson mass, making use of results previously obtained by the ALPHA Collaboration for O(a)-improved Wilson fermions. Our approach is quite general and enables the renormalization of scalar and pseudoscalar densities in lattice regularizations that preserve chiral symmetry and of fermion masses in any regularization. As an application we compute the non-perturbative factor which relates the renormalization group invariant quark condensate to its …
A strategy to study the role of the charm quark in explaining the Delta{I}=1/2 rule
We present a strategy designed to separate several possible origins of the well-known enhancement of the Delta{I}=1/2 amplitude in non-leptonic kaon decays. In particular, we seek to disentangle the contribution of physics at the typical QCD scale (soft-gluon exchange) from the effects at the scale of the charm quark mass. This is achieved by considering QCD with an unphysically light charm quark, so that the theory possesses an approximate SU(4)_L x SU(4)_R chiral symmetry. By computing the relevant operator matrix elements and monitoring their values as the charm quark mass departs from the SU(4)-symmetric situation, the role of the charm quark can be assessed. We study the influence of t…
Revisiting cosmological bounds on sterile neutrinos
We employ state-of-the art cosmological observables including supernova surveys and BAO information to provide constraints on the mass and mixing angle of a non-resonantly produced sterile neutrino species, showing that cosmology can effectively rule out sterile neutrinos which decay between BBN and the present day. The decoupling of an additional heavy neutrino species can modify the time dependence of the Universe's expansion between BBN and recombination and, in extreme cases, lead to an additional matter-dominated period; while this could naively lead to a younger Universe with a larger Hubble parameter, it could later be compensated by the extra radiation expected in the form of neutri…
Non-perturbative renormalisation of left left four-fermion operators with Neuberger fermions
We outline a general strategy for the non-perturbative renormalisation of composite operators in discretisations based on Neuberger fermions, via a matching to results obtained with Wilson-type fermions. As an application, we consider the renormalisation of the four-quark operators entering the Delta S=1 and Delta S=2 effective Hamiltonians. Our results are an essential ingredient for the determination of the low-energy constants governing non-leptonic kaon decays.
Determination of the ΔS=1 weak Hamiltonian of the SU(4) chiral limit through topological zero-mode wave functions
38 pages, 9 figures.-- Published in: JHEP05(2008)043, available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1126-6708/2008/05/043 (open-acess).
Finite-size Scaling of Meson Propagators
Using quenched chiral perturbation theory we compute meson correlation functions at finite volume and fixed gauge field topology. We also present the corresponding analytical predictions for the unquenched theory at fixed gauge field topology. These results can be used to measure the low-energy parameters of the chiral Langrangian from lattice simulations in volumes much smaller than one pion Compton wavelength.
Testable baryogenesis in seesaw models
We revisit the production of baryon asymmetries in the minimal type I seesaw model with heavy Majorana singlets in the GeV range. In particular we include "washout" effects from scattering processes with gauge bosons, Higgs decays and inverse decays, besides the dominant top scatterings. We show that in the minimal model with two singlets, and for an inverted light neutrino ordering, future measurements from SHiP and neutrinoless double beta decay could in principle provide sufficient information to predict the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. We also show that SHiP measurements could provide very valuable information on the PMNS CP phases.
Finite Volume Scaling of Pseudo Nambu-Goldstone Bosons in QCD
We consider chiral perturbation theory in a finite volume and in a mixed regime of quark masses. We take N_l light quarks near the chiral limit, in the so-called epsilon-regime, while the remaining N_h quarks are heavier and in the standard p-regime. We compute in this new mixed regime the finite-size scaling of the light meson correlators in the scalar, pseudoscalar, vector and axial vector channels.Using the replica method, we easily extend our results to the partially quenched theory. With the help of our results, lattice QCD simulations with 2+1 flavors can safely investigate pion physics with very light up and down quark masses even in the region where the pion's correlation length ove…
Searches for atmospheric long-lived particles
Long-lived particles are predicted in extensions of the Standard Model that involve relatively light but very weakly interacting sectors. In this paper we consider the possibility that some of these particles are produced in atmospheric cosmic ray showers, and their decay intercepted by neutrino detectors such as IceCube or Super-Kamiokande. We present the methodology and evaluate the sensitivity of these searches in various scenarios, including extensions with heavy neutral leptons in models of massive neutrinos, models with an extra $U(1)$ gauge symmetry, and a combination of both in a $U(1)_{B-L}$ model. Our results are shown as a function of the production rate and the lifetime of the c…
Probing the Type I Seesaw mechanism with displaced vertices at the LHC
The observation of Higgs decays into heavy neutrinos would be strong evidence for new physics associated to neutrino masses. In this work we propose a search for such decays within the Type I seesaw model in the few-GeV mass range via displaced vertices. Using 300 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, at 13 TeV, we explore the region of parameter space where such decays are measurable. We show that, after imposing pseudorapidity cuts, there still exists a region where the number of events is larger than $\mathcal{O}(10)$. We also find that conventional triggers can greatly limit the sensitivity of our signal, so we display several relevant kinematical distributions which might aid in the opti…
The Seesaw Scale vs Cosmology
We will study the simplest extension of the Standard Model that can account for neutrino masses: the Type-I seesaw. The model introduces a New Physics scale, M, which is often assumed to be much larger than the electroweak scale. However, it is presently unconstrained and the light neutrino masses and mixing can be generated for any value of M above O(eV). Paying special attention to the contribution of the sterile states to Neff as a function of M, we will show that a large part of the M parameter space (8 orders of magnitude) can be excluded thanks to cosmological measurements. The implications for neutrinoless double beta decay will be discussed too.
A non-perturbative study of massive gauge theories
We consider a non-perturbative formulation of an SU(2) massive gauge theory on a space-time lattice, which is also a discretised gauged non-linear chiral model. The lattice model is shown to have an exactly conserved global SU(2) symmetry. If a scaling region for the lattice model exists and the lightest degrees of freedom are spin one vector particles with the same quantum numbers as the conserved current, we argue that the most general effective theory describing their low-energy dynamics must be a massive gauge theory. We present results of a exploratory numerical simulation of the model and find indications for the presence of a scaling region where both a triplet vector and a scalar re…
Majorana vs pseudo-Dirac neutrinos at the ILC
Neutrino masses could originate in seesaw models testable at colliders, with light mediators and an approximate lepton number symmetry. The minimal model of this type contains two quasi-degenerate Majorana fermions forming a pseudo-Dirac pair. An important question is to what extent future colliders will have sensitivity to the splitting between the Majorana components, since this quantity signals the breaking of lepton number and is connected to the light neutrino masses. We consider the production of these neutral heavy leptons at the ILC, where their displaced decays provide a golden signal: a forward–backward charge asymmetry, which depends crucially on the mass splitting between the tw…
A new lattice action for studying topological charge
We propose a new lattice action for non-abelian gauge theories, which will reduce short-range lattice artifacts in the computation of the topological susceptibility. The standard Wilson action is replaced by the Wilson action of a gauge covariant interpolation of the original fields to a finer lattice. If the latter is fine enough, the action of all configurations with non-zero topological charge will satisfy the continuum bound. As a simpler example we consider the $O(3)$ $\sigma$-model in two dimensions, where a numerical analysis of discretized continuum instantons indicates that a finer lattice with half the lattice spacing of the original is enough to satisfy the continuum bound.
The large $$N_{c}$$ limit of QCD on the lattice
We review recent progress in the study of the large $N_c$ limit of gauge theories from lattice simulations. The focus is not only the planar limit but also the size of ${\mathcal O}(N_c^{-1})$ corrections for values of $N_c\gtrsim 3$. Some concrete examples of the topics we include are tests of large-$N_c$ factorization, the topological susceptibility, the glueball, meson and baryon spectra, the chiral dependence of masses and decay constants, and weak matrix elements related to the $\Delta I=1/2$ rule in kaon decays.
Neutrino oscillation physics with a neutrino factory
Data from atmospheric and solar neutrinos indicate that there are at least three neutrino types involved in oscillation phenomena. Even if the corresponding neutrino mass scales are very different, the inevitable reference to mixing between more than two neutrino types has profound consequences on the planning of the accelerator experiments suggested by these results. We discuss the measurement of mixing angles and CP phases in the context of the neutrino beam emanating from a {\it neutrino factory}: the straight sections of a muon storage ring. We emphasize the importance of charge identification. The appearance of wrong sign muons in a long baseline experiment may provide a powerful test …
New bounds on axion-like particles from MicroBooNE
Neutrino experiments lie at the edge of the intensity frontier and therefore can be exploited to search for new light particles weakly coupled to the visible sector. In this work we derive new constraints on axion-like particles (ALPs) using data from the MicroBooNE experiment, from a search for $e^+ e^-$ pairs pointing in the direction of the NuMI absorber. In particular, we consider the addition of higher-dimensional effective operators coupling the ALP to the electroweak gauge bosons. These would induce $K\to \pi a$ from kaon decay at rest in the NuMI absorber, as well as ALP decays into pairs of leptons or photons. We discuss in detail and compare various results obtained for the decay …
Finite-size scaling of vector and axial current correlators
Using quenched chiral perturbation theory, we compute the long-distance behaviour of two-point functions of flavour non-singlet axial and vector currents in a finite volume, for small quark masses, and at a fixed gauge-field topology. We also present the corresponding predictions for the unquenched theory at fixed topology. These results can in principle be used to measure the low-energy constants of the chiral Lagrangian, from lattice simulations in volumes much smaller than one pion Compton wavelength. We show that quenching has a dramatic effect on the vector correlator, which is argued to vanish to all orders, while the axial correlator appears to be a robust observable only moderately …
A lattice study of ππ scattering at large N c
Abstract We present the first lattice study of pion-pion scattering with varying number of colors, Nc. We use lattice simulations with four degenerate quark flavors, Nf = 4, and Nc = 3 − 6. We focus on two scattering channels that do not involve vacuum diagrams. These correspond to two irreducible representations of the SU(4) flavor group: the fully symmetric one, SS, and the fully antisymmetric one, AA. The former is a repulsive channel equivalent to the isospin-2 channel of SU(2). By contrast, the latter is attractive and only exists for Nf≥ 4. A representative state is $$ \left(\left.\left|{D}_s^{+}{\pi}^{+}\right.\right\rangle -\left.\left|{D}^{+}{K}^{+}\right.\right\rangle \right)/\sqr…
The seesaw portal in testable models of neutrino masses
A Standard Model extension with two Majorana neutrinos can explain the measured neutrino masses and mixings, and also account for the matter-antimatter asymmetry in a region of parameter space that could be testable in future experiments. The testability of the model relies to some extent on its minimality. In this paper we address the possibility that the model might be extended by extra generic new physics which we parametrize in terms of a low-energy effective theory. We consider the effects of the operators of the lowest dimensionality, $d=5$, and evaluate the upper bounds on the coefficients so that the predictions of the minimal model are robust. One of the operators gives a new produ…
The minimal 3+2 neutrino model versus oscillation anomalies
We study the constraints imposed by neutrino oscillation experiments on the minimal extension of the Standard Model that can explain neutrino masses, which requires the addition of just two singlet Weyl fermions. The most general renormalizable couplings of this model imply generically four massive neutrino mass eigenstates while one remains massless: it is therefore a minimal 3+2 model. The possibility to account for the confirmed solar, atmospheric and long-baseline oscillations, together with the LSND/MiniBooNE and reactor anomalies is addressed. We find that the minimal model can fit oscillation data including the anomalies better than the standard $3\nu$ model and similarly to the 3+2 …
Golden channel at a neutrino factory revisited: Improved sensitivities from a magnetized iron neutrino detector
This paper describes the performance and sensitivity to neutrino mixing parameters of a Magnetised Iron Neutrino Detector at a Neutrino Factory with a neutrino beam created from the decay of 10 GeV muons. Specifically, it is concerned with the ability of such a detector to detect muons of the opposite sign to those stored (wrong-sign muons) while suppressing contamination of the signal from the interactions of other neutrino species in the beam. A new, more realistic simulation and analysis, which improves the efficiency of this detector at low energies, has been developed using the GENIE neutrino event generator and the GEANT4 simulation toolkit. Low-energy neutrino events down to 1 GeV we…
The see-saw portal at future Higgs Factories
We consider an extension of the Standard Model with two right-handed singlet fermions with mass at the electroweak scale that induce neutrino masses, plus a generic new physics sector at a higher scale $\Lambda$. We focus on the effective operators of lowest dimension $d=5$, which induce new production and decay modes for the singlet fermions. We assess the sensitivity of future Higgs Factories, such as FCC-ee, CLIC-380, ILC and CEPC, to the coefficients of these operators for various center of mass energies. We show that future lepton colliders can test the cut-off of the theory up to $\Lambda \simeq 500 - 1000\;$TeV, surpassing the reach of future indirect measurements of the Higgs and $Z…
Leptogenesis in GeV scale seesaw models
We revisit the production of leptonic asymmetries in minimal extensions of the Standard Model that can explain neutrino masses, involving extra singlets with Majorana masses in the GeV scale. We study the quantum kinetic equations both analytically, via a perturbative expansion up to third order in the mixing angles, and numerically. The analytical solution allows us to identify the relevant CP invariants, and simplifies the exploration of the parameter space. We find that sizeable lepton asymmetries are compatible with non-degenerate neutrino masses and measurable active-sterile mixings.
Correlators of left charges and weak operators in finite volume chiral perturbation theory
We compute the two-point correlator between left-handed flavour charges, and the three-point correlator between two left-handed charges and one strangeness violating \Delta I=3/2 weak operator, at next-to-leading order in finite volume SU(3)_L x SU(3)_R chiral perturbation theory, in the so-called epsilon-regime. Matching these results with the corresponding lattice measurements would in principle allow to extract the pion decay constant F, and the effective chiral theory parameter g_27, which determines the \Delta I = 3/2 amplitude of the weak decays K to \pi\pi as well as the kaon mixing parameter B_K in the chiral limit. We repeat the calculations in the replica formulation of quenched c…
K--pipi amplitudes from lattice QCD with a light charm quark.
4 pages, 1 figure.-- PACS nrs.: 12.38.Gc, 13.25.Es, 11.30.Rd.-- ISI Article Identifier: 000244420700019.-- ArXiv pre-print available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0607220
Finite-size scaling of the quark condensate in quenched lattice QCD
We confront the finite volume and small quark mass behaviour of the scalar condensate, determined numerically in quenched lattice QCD using Neuberger fermions, with predictions of quenched chiral perturbation theory. We find that quenched chiral perturbation theory describes the numerical data well, allowing us to extract the infinite volume, chiral limit scalar condensate, up to a multiplicative renormalization constant.
The index theorem on the lattice with improved fermion actions
We consider a Wilson-Dirac operator with improved chiral properties. We show that, for arbitrarily rough gauge fields, it satisfies the index theorem if we identify the zero modes with the small real eigenvalues of the fermion operator and use the geometrical definition of topological charge. This is also confirmed in a numerical study of the quenched Schwinger model. These results suggest that integer definitions of the topological charge based on counting real modes of the Wilson operator are equivalent to the geometrical definition. The problem of exceptional configurations and the sign problem in simulations with an odd number of dynamical Wilson fermions are briefly discussed. We consi…
Neutrino oscillation physics with a higher-γ β-beam
The precision measurement and discovery potential of a neutrino factory based on boosted radioactive ions in a storage ring (“β-beam”) is re-examined. In contrast with past designs, which assume ion γ factors of ∼100 and baselines of L=130 km, we emphasize the advantages of boosting the ions to higher γ and increasing the baseline proportionally. In particular, we consider a “medium-γ” scenario (γ∼500, L∼730 km) and a “high-γ” scenario (γ∼2000, L∼3000 km). The increase in statistics, which grow linearly with the average beam energy, the ability to exploit the energy dependence of the signal and the sizable matter effects at this longer baseline all increase the discovery potential of such a…
Charm mass dependence of the weak Hamiltonian in chiral perturbation theory
Suppose that the weak interaction Hamiltonian of four-flavour SU(4) chiral effective theory is known, for a small charm quark mass m_c. We study how the weak Hamiltonian changes as the charm quark mass increases, by integrating it out within chiral perturbation theory to obtain a three-flavour SU(3) chiral theory. We find that the ratio of the SU(3) low-energy constants which mediate Delta I=1/2 and Delta I=3/2 transitions, increases rather rapidly with m_c, as \sim m_c ln (1/m_c). The logarithmic effect originates from "penguin-type" charm loops, and could represent one of the reasons for the Delta I=1/2 rule.
Golden measurements at a neutrino factory
The precision and discovery potential of a neutrino factory based on muon storage rings is studied. For three-family neutrino oscillations, we analyse how to measure or severely constraint the angle $\theta_{13}$, CP violation, MSW effects and the sign of the atmospheric mass difference $\Delta m^2_{23}$. We present a simple analytical formula for the oscillation probabilities in matter, with all neutrino mass differences non-vanishing, which clarifies the subtleties involved in disentangling the unknown parameters. The appearance of ``wrong-sign muons'' at three reference baselines is considered: 732 km, 3500 km, and 7332 km. We exploit the dependence of the signal on the neutrino energy, …
The Minimal 3 + 2 Neutrino Model vs. Higgs Decays
Abstract The minimal 3+2 neutrino model is a Type-I seesaw model with two Weyl fermions, singlets under the Standard Model. Apart from light neutrino masses and mixings, this model can be fully described by four additional parameters. In this work, we study the minimal 3+2 neutrino model in scenarios where the singlets have masses at the GeV scale. This can lead to Higgs decays into heavy neutrinos, which could be observable as displaced vertices at the LHC.