0000000001118707

AUTHOR

Frank F. Deppisch

Flavour in heavy neutrino searches at the LHC

Heavy neutrinos at the TeV scale have been searched for at the LHC in the context of left-right models, under the assumption that they couple to the electron, the muon, or both. We show that current searches are also sensitive to heavy neutrinos coupling predominantly to the tau lepton, and present limits can significantly constrain the parameter space of general flavour mixing.

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331 models and grand unification: From minimal SU(5) to minimal SU(6)

We consider the possibility of grand unification of the $\mathrm{ SU(3)_c \otimes SU(3)_L \otimes U(1)_X}$ model in an SU(6) gauge unification group. Two possibilities arise. Unlike other conventional grand unified theories, in SU(6) one can embed the $\mathrm{ SU(3)_c \otimes SU(3)_L \otimes U(1)_X}$ model as a subgroup such that different multiplets appear with different multiplicities. Such a scenario may emerge from the flux breaking of the unified group in an E(6) F-theory GUT. This provides new ways of achieving gauge coupling unification in $\mathrm{ SU(3)_c \otimes SU(3)_L \otimes U(1)_X}$ models while providing the radiative origin of neutrino masses. Alternatively, a sequential va…

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Heavy Neutrinos and Lepton Flavour Violation in Left-Right Symmetric Models at the LHC

We discuss lepton flavour violating processes induced in the production and decay of heavy right-handed neutrinos at the LHC. Such particles appear in left-right symmetrical extensions of the Standard Model as the messengers of neutrino mass generation, and can have masses at the TeV scale. We determine the expected sensitivity on the right-handed neutrino mixing matrix, as well as on the right-handed gauge boson and heavy neutrino masses. By comparing the sensitivity of the LHC with that of searches for low energy LFV processes, we identify favourable areas of the parameter space to explore the complementarity between LFV at low and high energies.

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SU(6) Grand Unification of 3-3-1 Model

We discuss a sequential variant of the \(\mathrm { SU(3)_c \times SU(3)_L \times U(1)_X}\) model which fits within a minimal SU(6) grand unification. Interestingly, this minimal SU(6) embedding can allow a \(\mathrm { SU(3)_c \times SU(3)_L \times U(1)_X}\) symmetry breaking scale within the reach of LHC and with seesaw-type neutrino masses.

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Enhanced muon-electron conversion in nuclei in the inverse seesaw model

We investigate nuclear mu-e conversion in the framework of an effective Lagrangian arising from the inverse seesaw model of neutrino masses. We consider lepton flavour violation interactions that arise from short range (non-photonic) as well as long range (photonic) contributions. Upper bounds for the LFV parameters characterizing mu-e conversion are derived in the inverse seesaw model Lagrangian using the available limits on the mu-e conversion branching ratio, as well as the expected sensitivities of upcoming experiments. We comment on the relative importance of these two types of contributions and their relationship with the measured solar neutrino mixing angle theta_12 and the dependenc…

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Falsifying High-Scale Leptogenesis at the LHC

Measuring a non-zero value for the cross section of any lepton number violating (LNV) process would put a strong lower limit on the washout factor for the effective lepton number density in the early universe at times close to the electroweak phase transition and thus would lead to important constraints on any high-scale model for the generation of the observed baryon asymmetry based on LNV. In particular, for leptogenesis models with masses of the right-handed neutrinos heavier than the mass scale observed at the LHC, the implied large washout factors would lead to a violation of the out-of-equilibrium condition and exponentially suppress the net lepton number produced in such leptogenesis…

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Analysis of light neutrino exchange and short-range mechanisms in 0νββ decay

Neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) is a crucial test for lepton number violation. Observation of this process would have fundamental implications for neutrino physics, theories beyond the Standard Model and cosmology. Focusing on so-called short-range operators of 0νββ and their potential interplay with the standard light Majorana neutrino exchange, we present the first complete calculation of the relevant nuclear matrix elements, performed within the interacting boson model (IBM-2). Furthermore, we calculate the relevant phase space factors using exact Dirac electron wave functions, taking into account the finite nuclear size and screening by the electron cloud. The obtained numerical r…

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Supersymmetric seesaw model and lepton-flavor violation at a future electron-positron linear collider

We study lepton-flavor violating slepton production and decay at a future e^+e^- linear collider in context with the seesaw mechanism in mSUGRA post-LEP benchmark scenarios. The present knowledge in the neutrino sector as well as improved future measurements are taken into account. We calculate the signal cross-sections \sigma(e^{+/-}e^- -> l_{\beta}^{+/-} l_{\alpha}^- \tilde{\chi}_b^0 \tilde{\chi}_a^0); l_{\delta}=e, \mu, \tau; \alpha =|= \beta and estimate the main background processes. Furthermore, we investigate the correlations of these signals with the corresponding lepton-flavor violating rare decays l_{\alpha} -> l_{\beta} \gamma. It is shown that these correlations are relatively w…

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Neutrinoless double-beta decay and physics beyond the standard model

Neutrinoless double beta decay is the most powerful tool to probe not only for Majorana neutrino masses but for lepton number violating physics in general. We discuss relations between lepton number violation, double beta decay and neutrino mass, review a general Lorentz invariant parametrization of the double beta decay rate, highlight a number of different new physics models showing how different mechanisms can trigger double beta decay, and finally discuss possibilities to discriminate and test these models and mechanisms in complementary experiments.

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Double beta decay versus cosmology: Majorana CP phases and nuclear matrix elements

We discuss the relation between the absolute neutrino mass scale, the effective mass measured in neutrinoless double beta decay, and the Majorana CP phases. Emphasis is placed on estimating the upper bound on the nuclear matrix element entering calculations of the double beta decay half life. Consequently, one of the Majorana CP phases can be constrained when combining the claimed evidence for neutrinoless double beta decay with the neutrino mass bound from cosmology.

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Statistical analysis of β decays and the effective value of gA in the proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation framework

We perform a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) statistical analysis of a number of measured groundstate-to-ground-state single β+/electron-capture and β− decays in the nuclear mass range of A = 62–142. The corresponding experimental comparative half-lives (log f t values) are compared with the theoretical ones obtained by the use of the proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation (pnQRPA) with G-matrixbased effective interactions. The MCMC analysis is performed separately for 47 isobaric triplets and 28 more extended isobaric chains of nuclei to extract values and uncertainties for the effective axial-vector coupling constant gA in nuclear-structure calculations performed in the p…

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Falsifying high-scale baryogenesis with neutrinoless double beta decay and lepton flavor violation

5 pages.- 2 figures

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Short-range neutrinoless double beta decay mechanisms

Neutrinoless double beta decay can significantly help to shed light on the issue of non-zero neutrino mass, as observation of this lepton number violating process would imply neutrinos are Majorana particles. However, the underlying interaction does not have to be as simple as the standard neutrino mass mechanism. The entire variety of neutrinoless double beta decay mechanisms can be approached effectively. In this work we focus on a theoretical description of short-range effective contributions to neutrinoless double beta decay, which are equivalent to 9-dimensional effective operators incorporating the appropriate field content. We give a detailed derivation of the nuclear matrix elements…

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Is charged lepton flavor violation a high energy phenomenon?

Searches for rare processes such as mu --> e gamma put stringent limits on lepton flavour violation expected in many Beyond the Standard Model physics scenarios. This usually precludes the observation of flavour violation at high energy colliders such as the LHC. We here discuss a scenario where right-handed neutrinos are produced via a Z' portal but which can only decay via small flavour violating couplings. Consequently, the process rate is unsuppressed by the small couplings and can be visible despite unobservably small mu --> e gamma rates.

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Analysis of light neutrino exchange and short-range mechanisms in 0νββ decay

Neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) is a crucial test for lepton number violation. Observation of this process would have fundamental implications for neutrino physics, theories beyond the Standard Model and cosmology. Focusing on so-called short-range operators of 0νββ and their potential interplay with the standard light Majorana neutrino exchange, we present the first complete calculation of the relevant nuclear matrix elements, performed within the interacting boson model (IBM-2). Furthermore, we calculate the relevant phase space factors using exact Dirac electron wave functions, taking into account the finite nuclear size and screening by the electron cloud. The obtained numerical r…

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Enhanced lepton flavor violation in the supersymmetric inverse seesaw model

We discuss a supersymmetric inverse seesaw model in which lepton flavour violating decays can be enhanced either by flavour violating slepton contributions or by the non-unitarity of the charged current mixing matrix. As an example we calculate Br(mu -> e gamma) taking into account both heavy lepton exchange as well as supersymmetric diagrams in a minimal supergravity framework. We find that the for the same parameters the rate can be enhanced with respect to seesaw model expectations, with or without supersymmetry.

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Statistical analysis of beta decays and the effective value of g_A in the proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation framework

We perform a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) statistical analysis of a number of measured ground-state-to-ground-state single $\beta^+$/electron-capture and $\beta^-$ decays in the nuclear mass range A = 62 - 142. The corresponding experimental comparative half-lives (log ft values) are compared with the theoretical ones obtained by the use of the proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation (pnQRPA) with G-matrix based effective interactions. The MCMC analysis is performed separately for 47 isobaric triplets and 28 more extended isobaric chains of nuclei to extract values and uncertainties for the effective axial-vector coupling constant g_A in nuclear-structure calculations per…

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Statistical analysis ofβdecays and the effective value ofgAin the proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation framework

We perform a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) statistical analysis of a number of measured ground-state-to-ground-state single ${\ensuremath{\beta}}^{+}$/electron-capture and ${\ensuremath{\beta}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ decays in the nuclear mass range of $A=62--142$. The corresponding experimental comparative half-lives ($logft$ values) are compared with the theoretical ones obtained by the use of the proton-neutron quasiparticle random-phase approximation $(pn\mathrm{QRPA})$ with $G$-matrix-based effective interactions. The MCMC analysis is performed separately for 47 isobaric triplets and 28 more extended isobaric chains of nuclei to extract values and uncertainties for the effective axial-vec…

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Supersymmetry parameter analysis: SPA convention and project.

18 páginas, 6 figuras, 12 tablas.-- et al.

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