WIMPy baryogenesis with sterile neutrinos

Abstract

In this talk we propose a mechanism for baryogenesis from particle decays or annihilations that can work at the TeV scale. Some heavy particles annihilate or decay into a heavy sterile neutrino N (with M ≳ 1 TeV) and a “light” one ν (with m ≪ 100 GeV), generating an asymmetry among the two helicity degrees of freedom of v. This asymmetry is partially transferred to Standard Model leptons via fast Yukawa interactions and reprocessed into a baryon asymmetry by the electroweak sphalerons. We illustrate this mechanism in a WIMPy baryogenesis model where the helicity asymmetry is generated in the annihilation of dark matter. This model connects the baryon asymmetry, dark matter, and neutrino masses.