Fermionic Decay Research Articles

Chiral kinetic theory from the on-shell effective field theory: Derivation of collision terms

We show that the on-shell effective theory (OSEFT) is the quantum field theory counterpart of a Foldy-Wouthuysen diagonalization of relativistic quantum mechanics for massless fermions. Thus, it is free of the Zitterbewegung oscillations that would yield an ill-defined meaning to the semiclassical transport approach at short distances if derived from the pure Dirac picture. We present a detailed derivation of the collision terms in the chiral kinetic theory using the OSEFT. Collision integrals are derived up to order 1/E, where E is the energy of an on-shell fermion. At this order, the collision terms depends on the spin tensor of the fermion, and in the presence of chiral imbalance, it describes how a massless fermion of a given helicity interacts differently with the transverse photons of different circular polarization. In order to back up our results, we check that they allow us to reproduce the fermion decay rate in an ultradegenerate plasma with a chiral imbalance computed directly from QED.

Fermionic decay of a massive scalar in the early universe

We derive a curved space generalization of a scalar to fermion decay rate with a Yukawa coupling in expanding Friedmann–Robertson–Walker universes. This is done using the full theory of quantum fields in curved spacetime and the added-up transition probability method. It is found that in an expanding universe the usual Minkowskian decay rates are considerably modified for early times. For conformally coupled scalars the decay rate is modified by a positive additive term proportional to the inverse of mass and related to the expansion rate of the Universe. We compare and contrast our results with previous studies on scalar to scalar decay and find that in general the decay channel into fermions is the dominant channel of decay in the very early Universe.

CP violation and circular polarisation in neutrino radiative decay

The radiative decay of neutral fermions has been studied for decades but $CP$ violation induced within such a paradigm has evaded attention. $CP$ violation in these processes can produce an asymmetry between circularly polarised directions of the radiated photons and produces an important source of net circular polarisation in particle and astroparticle physics observables. The results presented in this work outlines the general connection between $CP$ violation and circular polarisation for both Dirac and Majorana fermions and can be used for any class of models that produce such radiative decays. The total $CP$ violation is calculated based on a widely studied Yukawa interaction considered in both active and sterile neutrino radiative decay scenarios as well as searches for dark matter via direct detection and collider signatures. Finally, the phenomenological implications of the formalism on keV sterile neutrino decay, leptogenesis-induced right-handed neutrino radiative decay and IceCube-driven heavy dark matter decay are discussed.

Electroweak corrections to the fermionic decays of heavy Higgs states

Extensions of the standard model often come with additional, possibly electroweakly charged Higgs states, the prototypal example being the Two-Higgs-Doublet Model. While collider phenomenology does not exclude the possibility for some of these new scalar fields to be light, it is relatively natural to consider masses in the multi-TeV range, in which case the only remaining light Higgs boson automatically receives SM-like properties. The appearance of a hierarchy between the new-physics states and the electroweak scale then leads to sizable electroweak corrections, e. g. in the decays of the heavy Higgs bosons, which are dominated by effects of infrared type, namely Sudakov logarithms. Such radiative contributions obviously affect the two-body decays, but should also be paired with the radiation of electroweak gauge bosons (or lighter Higgs bosons) for a consistent picture at the one-loop order. Resummation of the leading terms is also relatively easy to achieve. We re-visit these questions in the specific case of the fermionic decays of heavy Higgs particles in the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, in particular pointing out the consequences of the three-body final states for the branching ratios of the heavy scalars.

Quasi-normal modes and fermionic vacuum decay around a Kerr black hole

We analyze the instability of the non-rotating fermion vacuum in Kerr spacetimes. We describe how the co-rotating Fermi sea is formed as a result of a spontaneous vacuum decay. Most significantly, and drawing upon intuition gained from analogous electrodynamic processes in supercritical fields, we show that this decay process is encoded entirely in the set of quasi-normal fermion modes.

Decay of semiclassical massless Dirac fermions from integrable and chaotic cavities

Conventional microlasing of electromagnetic waves requires (1) a high $Q$ cavity and (2) a mechanism for directional emission. Previous theoretical and experimental work demonstrated that the two requirements can be met with deformed dielectric cavities that generate chaotic ray dynamics. Is it possible for a massless Dirac spinor wave in graphene or its photonic counterpart to exhibit a similar behavior? Intuitively, because of the absence of backscattering of associated massless spin-1/2 particles and Klein tunneling, confining the wave in a cavity for a long time seems not feasible. Deforming the cavity to generate classical chaos would make confinement even more difficult. Investigating the decay of a spin-1/2 wave from a scalar potential barrier defined cavity characterized by an effective refractive index $n$ that depends on the applied potential and the particle energy, we uncover the striking existence of an interval of the refractive index in which the average lifetime of the massless spin-1/2 wave in the cavity can be as high as that of the electromagnetic wave, for both integrable and chaotic cavities. We also find scaling laws for the ratio between the mean escape time associated with electromagnetic waves and that with massless spin-1/2 particles versus the index outside of this interval. The scaling laws hold regardless of the nature of the classical dynamics. All the results are verified numerically. The findings provide insights into the emergent field of Dirac electron optics and have potential applications in developing unconventional electronics using 2D Dirac materials.

The hierarchion, a relaxion addressing the Standard Model\u2019s hierarchies

We present a mechanism that addresses the electroweak, the strong CP, and the flavor hierarchies of the Standard Model (including neutrino masses) in a unified way. The naturalness of the electroweak scale is solved together with the strong CP problem by the Nelson-Barr relaxion: the relaxion field is identified with the pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson of an abelian symmetry with no QCD anomaly. The Nelson-Barr sector generates the “rolling” potential and the relaxion vacuum expectation value at the stopping point is mapped to the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa phase. The same abelian symmetry accounts for the Standard Model’s mass hierarchies and flavor textures through the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism. We show how the “backreaction” potential of the relaxion can be induced by a sterile neutrino sector, without any extra state with electroweak quantum numbers. The same construction successfully explains neutrino masses and mixings. The only light field in our model is the relaxion, which we call the hierarchion because it is central to our construction that accounts for all the Standard Model hierarchies. Given its interplay with flavor symmetries, the hierarchion can be probed in flavor-violating decays of the Standard Model fermions, motivating a further experimental effort in looking for new physics in rare decays of leptons and mesons.

Cosmic-ray fermion decay through tau-antitau emission with Lorentz violation

We study CPT and Lorentz violation in the tau-lepton sector of the Standard Model in the context of the Standard-Model Extension, described by a coefficient which is thus far unbounded by experiment. We show that any non-zero value of this coefficient implies that, for sufficiently large energies, standard-model fermions become unstable against decay due to the emission of a pair of tau-antitau leptons. We calculate the induced fermion energy-loss rate and we deduce the first limit on the Lorentz- and CPT-violating coefficient.

Searches for vector-like quarks at future colliders and implications for composite Higgs models with dark matter

Many composite Higgs models predict the existence of vector-like quarks with masses outside the reach of the LHC, e.g. mQ ≳ 2 TeV, in particular if these models contain a dark matter candidate. In such models the mass of the new resonances is bounded from above to satisfy the constraint from the observed relic density. We therefore develop new strategies to search for vector-like quarks at a future 100 TeV collider and evaluate what masses and interactions can be probed. We find that masses as large as ∼ 6.4 (∼9) TeV can be tested if the fermionic resonances decay into Standard Model (dark matter) particles. We also discuss the complementarity of dark matter searches, showing that most of the parameter space can be closed. On balance, this study motivates further the consideration of a higher-energy hadron collider for a next generation of facilities.

Search for Heavy Higgs Bosons in Fermionic Decay Channels with CMS

Latest results of searches for heavy Higgs bosons in fermionic final states are presented using the CMS detector at the LHC. Results are based on pp collision data collected at centre-of-mass energies of 8 and 13 TeV which have been interpreted according to different extensions of the Standard Model such as MSSM, 2HDM, and NMSSM. These searches look for evidence of other scalar or pseudoscalar bosons, in addition to the observed SM-like 125 GeV Higgs boson, and set 95% confidence level upper limits in fermionic final states and benchmark models explored. The talk reviews briefly the major results obtained by the CMS Collaboration during Run I, and presents the most recent searches performed during Run II.

Measurement of cross sections and couplings of the Higgs Boson using the ATLAS detector

After the discovery of the Higgs boson, the measurement of its coupling properties are of particular importance. In this talk measurement of the cross sections and couplings of the Higgs boson in bosonic and fermionic decay channels with the ATLAS detector are presented.

Measurement of cross sections and couplings of the Higgs boson in fermionic decay modes with the ATLAS detector

In this report, we present the latest ATLAS results on the measurement of the cross sections and couplings of the Higgs boson in the fermionic decay modes, H → μ+μ-, H → τ+τ- and H → bb. The searches are performed with proton-proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider during Run 1 and the first two years of Run 2 at √s = 7, 8 and 13 TeV.

Probing neutrino and Higgs sectors in text{ SU(2) }_1 times text{ SU(2) }_2 times text{ U(1) }_Y model with lepton-flavor non-universality

The neutrino and Higgs sectors in the text{ SU(2) }_1 times text{ SU(2) }_2 times text{ U(1) }_Y model with lepton-flavor non-universality are discussed. We show that active neutrinos can get Majorana masses from radiative corrections, after adding only new singly charged Higgs bosons. The mechanism for the generation of neutrino masses is the same as in the Zee models. This also gives a hint to solving the dark matter problem based on similar ways discussed recently in many radiative neutrino mass models with dark matter. Except the active neutrinos, the appearance of singly charged Higgs bosons and dark matter does not affect significantly the physical spectrum of all particles in the original model. We indicate this point by investigating the Higgs sector in both cases before and after singly charged scalars are added into it. Many interesting properties of physical Higgs bosons, which were not shown previously, are explored. In particular, the mass matrices of charged and CP-odd Higgs fields are proportional to the coefficient of triple Higgs coupling mu . The mass eigenstates and eigenvalues in the CP-even Higgs sector are also presented. All couplings of the SM-like Higgs boson to normal fermions and gauge bosons are different from the SM predictions by a factor c_h, which must satisfy the recent global fit of experimental data, namely 0.995<|c_h|<1. We have analyzed a more general diagonalization of gauge boson mass matrices, then we show that the ratio of the tangents of the W–W' and Z–Z' mixing angles is exactly the cosine of the Weinberg angle, implying that number of parameters is reduced by 1. Signals of new physics from decays of new heavy fermions and Higgs bosons at LHC and constraints of their masses are also discussed.

FCNC decays of standard model fermions into a dark photon

We analyze a new class of FCNC processes, the $f \to f^{\prime} \, \bar{\gamma}$ decays of a fermion $f$ into a lighter (same-charge) fermion $f^{\prime}$ plus a {\it massless} neutral vector boson, a {\it dark photon} $\bar{\gamma}$. A massless dark photon does not interact at tree level with observable fields, and the $f \!\to\! f^{\prime} \, \bar{\gamma}$ decay presents a characteristic signature where the final fermion $f^{\prime}$ is balanced by a {\it massless invisible} system. Models recently proposed to explain the exponential spread in the standard-model Yukawa couplings can indeed foresee an extra unbroken {\it dark} $U(1)$ gauge group, and the possibility to couple on-shell dark photons to standard-model fermions via one-loop magnetic-dipole kind of FCNC interactions. The latter are suppressed by the characteristic scale related to the mass of heavy messengers, connecting the standard model particles to the dark sector. We compute the corresponding decay rates for the top, bottom, and charm decays ($t\to c\, \bar{\gamma},u\, \bar{\gamma}$, $\;b\to s\, \bar{\gamma},d\, \bar{\gamma}$, and $c\to u \bar{\gamma}$), and for the charged-lepton decays ($\tau \to \mu\, \bar{\gamma}, e\, \bar{\gamma}$, and $\mu \to e \bar{\gamma}$) in terms of model parameters. We find that large branching ratios for both quark and lepton decays are allowed in case the messenger masses are in the discovery range of the LHC. Implications of these new decay channels at present and future collider experiments are briefly discussed.

Peccei-Quinn symmetry for Dirac seesaw and leptogenesis

We extend the DFSZ invisible axion model to simultaneously explain small Dirac neutrino masses and cosmic matter-antimatter asymmetry. After the Peccei-Quinn and electroweak symmetry breaking, the effective Yukawa couplings of the Dirac neutrinos to the standard model Higgs scalar can be highly suppressed by the ratio of the vacuum expectation value of an iso-triplet Higgs scalar over the masses of some heavy gauge-singlet fermions, iso-doublet Higgs scalars or iso-triplet fermions. The iso-triplet fields can carry a zero or nonzero hypercharge. Through the decays of the heavy gauge-singlet fermions, iso-doublet scalars or iso-triplet fermions, we can obtain a lepton asymmetry in the left-handed leptons and an opposite lepton asymmetry in the right-handed neutrinos. Since the right-handed neutrinos do not participate in the sphaleron processes, the left-handed lepton asymmetry can be partially converted to a baryon asymmetry.

Search for the Higgs boson in fermionic channels using ATLAS detector

The property measurements of the recently discovered boson at a mass around 125 GeV confirm that it is compatible with the Higgs boson predicted by the Standard Model. Since the discovery and the first property measurements were performed using the bosonic decay channels, it is particularly important to observe and measure the Higgs boson using the fermionic decay channels. We present a review of the searches for the Higgs boson decaying to a pair of τ-leptons, muons, and b-quarks with the ATLAS experiment using LHC Run 1 full dataset.

Constraining decaying dark matter with neutron stars

The amount of decaying dark matter, accumulated in the central regions in neutron stars together with the energy deposition rate from decays, may set a limit on the neutron star survival rate against transitions to more compact objects provided nuclear matter is not the ultimate stable state of matter and that dark matter indeed is unstable. More generally, this limit sets constraints on the dark matter particle decay time, τχ. We find that in the range of uncertainties intrinsic to such a scenario, masses (mχ/TeV)≳9×10−4 or (mχ/TeV)≳5×10−2 and lifetimes τχ≲1055 s and τχ≲1053 s can be excluded in the bosonic or fermionic decay cases, respectively, in an optimistic estimate, while more conservatively, it decreases τχ by a factor ≳1020. We discuss the validity under which these results may improve with other current constraints.

Higgs in fermionic channel (CMS)

Searches for the Higgs boson have been carried out in different fermionic decay modes with the CMS detector at the LHC collider. The analysis is based on pp collision data collected at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV corresponding to integrated luminosities of 5 fb-1 and 20 fb-1 respectively. The strategy and results of the searches are reported.

Higgs in fermionic channel (CMS)

Searches for the Higgs boson have been carried out in different fermionic decay modes with the CMS detector at the LHC collider. The analysis is based on pp collision data collected at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV corresponding to integrated luminosities of about 5 fb−1 and 20 fb−1 respectively. The strategy and results of the searches are reported.

Search for fermionic Higgs boson decays in pp collisions at the ATLAS and CMS experiments

The newly discovered boson was only observed in diboson final states. The measurement of the fermionic decay modes of this new particle is essential to establish its compatibility with the Standard Model Higgs boson. The two main final states accessible at the LHC are the decay into pairs of b quarks and τ leptons, both of which are experimentally challenging. In some cases, the exploitation of specific Higgs boson production modes allows to significantly increase the experimental sensitivity. One can also extend the search by looking for di-muon final states. This article gives an overview of the Higgs boson searches in these three fermionic final states at the ATLAS and CMS experiments, focusing on the most recent developments and results.