Abstract
We discuss the connection between the origin of neutrino masses and the properties of dark matter candidates in the context of gauge extensions of the Standard Model. We investigate minimal gauge theories for neutrino masses where the neutrinos are predicted to be Dirac or Majorana fermions. We find that the upper bound on the effective number of relativistic species provides a strong constraint in the scenarios with Dirac neutrinos. In the context of theories where the lepton number is a local gauge symmetry spontaneously broken at the low scale, the existence of dark matter is predicted from the condition of anomaly cancellation. Applying the cosmological bound on the dark matter relic density, we find an upper bound on the symmetry breaking scale in the multi-TeV region. These results imply we could hope to test simple gauge theories for neutrino masses at current or future experiments.
Highlights
The origin of neutrino masses is one of the most pressing issues in particle physics today
We investigated possible connections between the origin of neutrino masses and the properties of dark matter candidates in simple gauge theories based on local B − L only if the B − L (or L) symmetries
In theories based on B − L, the gauge boson mass can be generated through the Stueckelberg or the Higgs mechanism
Summary
The origin of neutrino masses is one of the most pressing issues in particle physics today. We have discussed a simple theory for neutrino masses where the seesaw scale is in the multi-TeV region [6] In this context, the same Uð1ÞB−L gauge symmetry that explains the origin of neutrino masses defines the properties of a cold dark matter candidate. In the canonical seesaw scenario, the Uð1ÞB−L symmetry is spontaneously broken into two units using the Higgs mechanism, and the neutrinos are Majorana fermions In both cases the dark matter candidate is a vectorlike Dirac fermion charged under the Uð1ÞB−L symmetry. [28,29,30,31,32] In this case, the lepton number is broken into three units, and the neutrinos are predicted to be Dirac fermions, while the dark matter candidate is a Majorana fermion. Our main results suggest that one could be optimistic about the possibility to test the different theories for neutrino masses if there is a simple connection to the properties and origin of dark matter candidates
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