Fermionic Sector Research Articles

Phenomenological study of neutrino mass, dark matter and baryogenesis within the framework of minimal extended seesaw

We study a model of neutrino and dark matter within the framework of a minimal extended seesaw. This framework is based on A4 flavor symmetry along with the discrete Z4 symmetry to stabilize the dark matter and construct desired mass matrices for neutrino mass. We use a non-trivial Dirac mass matrix with broken μ − τ symmetry to generate the leptonic mixing. A non-degenerate mass structure for right-handed neutrinos is considered to verify the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe via the mechanism of thermal Leptogenesis. The scalar sector is also studied in great detail for a multi-Higgs doublet scenario, considering the lightest Z4-odd as a viable dark matter candidate. A significant impact on the region of DM parameter space, as well as in the fermionic sector, are found in the presence of extra scalar particles.

Generalized blind spots for dark matter direct detection in the 2HDM

In this paper we study the presence of generalized blind spots, i.e. regions of the parameter space where the spin-independent cross section for dark matter direct detection is suppressed, in the context of a generic 2HDM and a minimal fermionic Higgs-portal dark sector. To this end, we derive analytical expressions for the couplings of the dark matter to the light and heavy Higgses, and thus for the blind spot solutions. Unlike the case of a standard Higgs sector, blind spots can occur even without a cancellation between different contributions, while keeping unsuppressed and efficient the annihilation processes in the early Universe involving Higgs states. As a consequence, the allowed parameter space is dramatically enhanced.

New linearization and reweighting for simulations of string sigma-model on the lattice

We study the discretized worldsheet of Type IIB strings in the Gubser-Klebanov-Polyakov background in a new setup, which eliminates a complex phase previously detected in the fermionic determinant. A sign ambiguity remains, which a study of the fermionic spectrum shows to be related to Yukawa-like terms, including those present in the original Lagrangian before the linearization standard in a lattice QFT approach. Monte Carlo simulations are performed in a large region of the parameter space, where the sign problem starts becoming severe and instabilities appear due to the zero eigenvalues of the fermionic operator. To face these problems, simulations are conducted using the absolute value of a fermionic Pfaffian obtained introducing a small twisted-mass term, acting as an infrared regulator, into the action. The sign of the Pfaffian and the low modes of the quadratic fermionic operator are then taken into account by a reweighting procedure of which we discuss the impact on the measurement of the observables. In this setup we study bosonic and fermionic correlators and observe a divergence in the latter, which we argue — also via a one-loop analysis in lattice perturbation theory — to originate from the U(1)-breaking of our Wilson-like discretization for the fermionic sector.

Left-right supersymmetry as the origin of flavor structure

We propose a new framework for the observed flavor hierarchy and mixing based on left-right supersymmetry. The model contains the most minimal Higgs sector consisting only of gauge doublets which forbid the standard model Yukawa couplings. New mediator fields then connect the left- and right-chiral fermion sectors and result in effective tree level Yukawa couplings for the third generation charged fermions. The remaining fermions, including all neutrinos, acquire effective Yukawa couplings sourced by the supersymmetry breaking sector at loop level. We predict new TeV range scalars, as well as heavier fermions and vector bosons, that can be discovered at the LHC and future colliders.

Breaking mirror twin hypercharge

The Twin Higgs scenario stabilizes the Higgs mass through an approximate global symmetry and has remained natural in the face of increasingly stringent LHC bounds on colored top partners. Two basic structural questions in this framework concern the nature of the twin hypercharge gauge symmetry and the origin of the ℤ2 symmetry breaking needed to achieve the correct vacuum alignment. Both questions are addressed in a simple extension of the Mirror Twin Higgs model with an exact ℤ2 symmetry and a scalar field that spontaneously breaks both twin hypercharge and ℤ2. Due to the ℤ2 symmetry and an approximate U(2) symmetry in the potential, a new hypercharge scalar appears in the visible sector and, like the Higgs, is a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson with a weak-scale mass. Couplings between the hypercharge scalar and matter provide a new dynamical source of twin sector fermion masses. Depending on the nature and size of these couplings, a variety of experimental signatures may arise, including quark and lepton flavor violation, neutrino masses and mixings as well as direct collider probes of the hypercharged scalar. These signals are correlated with the twin matter spectrum, which can differ dramatically from the visible one, including dynamical realizations of fraternal-like scenarios.

Breaking of Lorentz invariance in electron-proton parity violation

A popular framework for exploring Lorentz violation is the Standard Model Extension. This extension contains a large number of parameters that can be bounded in various experiments. Most studies, however, focus on the fermion or photon sector. Here, we consider Lorentz violation in the weak vector boson sector. The strongest bounds come from measurements of the asymmetry in Moller scattering. We study the bounds that can be obtained from future measurements of the parity violating asymmetry in deep inelastic electron-proton scattering at the EIC, the LHeC and the FCC-eh. For the FCC-eh, the bounds could be substantially improved over current bounds by including timing information.

Gauge and gravitational instantons: from 3-forms and fermions to weak gravity and flat axion potentials

We investigate the role of gauge and gravitational instantons in the context of the Swampland program. Our focus is on the global symmetry breaking they induce, especially in the presence of fermions. We first recall and make more precise the description of the dilute instanton gas through a 3-form gauge theory. In this language, the familiar suppression of instanton effects by light fermions can be understood as the decoupling of the 3-form. Even if all fermions remain massive, such decoupling may occur on the basis of an explicitly unbroken but anomalous global symmetry in the fermionic sector. This should be forbidden by quantum gravity, which leads us to conjecture a related, cutoff-dependent lower bound on the induced axion potential. Finally, we note that the gravitational counterpart of the above are K3 instantons. These are small fluctuations of Euclidean spacetime with K3 topology, which induce fermionic operators analogous to the ’t Hooft vertex in gauge theories. Although Planck-suppressed, they may be phenomenologically relevant if accompanied by other higher-dimension fermion operators or if the K3 carries appropriate gauge fluxes.

The axion and the Goldstone Higgs

We consider the renormalizable SO(5)/SO(4) σ-model, in which the Higgs particle has a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson character, and explore what the minimal field extension required to implement the Peccei-Quinn symmetry is, within the partial compositeness scenario. It turns out that the minimal model does not require the enlargement of the exotic fermionic sector. The addition of a singlet scalar suffices. We explore the implementation of the symmetry and the phenomenological predictions for photonic signals in axion searches for all models discussed. Because of the constraints imposed by partial compositeness on the exotic fermion sector in order to obtain the Standard Model fermion masses, the expected range of allowed axion-photon couplings turns out to be generically narrowed with respect to that of standard invisible axion models, impacting the experimental quest.

One-loop neutrino mass model without any additional symmetries

We propose a radiative seesaw model at one-loop level, introducing fields with large multiplet of $SU(2)_L$. Thanks to large representations, any additional symmetries are not needed. In this framework, we formulate lepton and new fermion sector such as mass matrices, LFVs, and muon $g-2$. Furthermore, we show our cut-off scale via RGEs of $SU(2)_L$, and numerical analysis at a benchmark point included in dark matter candidate. Finally, we brief discuss possibility to detect at colliders.

Spin polarization independence of hard polarized fermion string scattering amplitudes

We calculate a class of polarized fermion string scattering amplitudes (PFSSA) at arbitrary mass levels. We discover that, in the hard scattering limit, the functional forms of the non-vanishing PFSSA at each fixed mass level are independent of the choices of spin polarizations. This result agrees with Gross conjecture on high energy string scattering amplitudes extended to the fermionic sector. In addition, this peculiar property of hard PFSSA is to be compared with the usual spin polarization dependence of the hard polarized fermion field theory scatterings.

On nonperturbative quantum field theory and noncommutative geometry

A general framework of non-perturbative quantum field theory on a curved background is proposed. A quantum field theory is in this setting characterised by an embedding of a space of field configurations into a Hilbert space over R∞. This embedding, which is only local up to a scale that we interpret as the Planck scale, coincides in the local and flat limit with the plane wave expansion known from canonical quantisation. We identify a universal Bott–Dirac operator acting in the Hilbert space over R∞ and show that it gives rise to the free Hamiltonian both in the case of a scalar field theory and in the case of a Yang–Mills theory. These theories come with a canonical fermionic sector for which the Bott–Dirac operator also provides the Hamiltonian. We prove that Hilbert space representations of algebras of observables exist non-perturbatively for a real scalar theory and for a gauge theory, both with or without the fermionic sectors, and show that the free theories are given by semi-finite spectral triples over the respective configuration spaces. Finally, we propose a class of quantum field theories whose interactions are generated by inner fluctuations of the Bott–Dirac operator.

Weyl gauge symmetry and its spontaneous breaking in the standard model and inflation

We discuss the local (gauged) Weyl symmetry and its spontaneous breaking and apply it to model building beyond the Standard Model (SM) and inflation. In models with non-minimal couplings of the scalar fields to the Ricci scalar, that are conformal invariant, the spontaneous generation by a scalar field(s) vev of a positive Newton constant demands a negative kinetic term for the scalar field, or vice-versa. This is naturally avoided in models with additional Weyl gauge symmetry. The Weyl gauge field $\omega_\mu$ couples to the scalar sector but not to the fermionic sector of a SM-like Lagrangian. The field $\omega_\mu$ undergoes a Stueckelberg mechanism and becomes massive after "eating" the (radial mode) would-be-Goldstone field (dilaton $\rho$) in the scalar sector. Before the decoupling of $\omega_\mu$, the dilaton can act as UV regulator and maintain the Weyl symmetry at the {\it quantum} level, with relevance for solving the hierarchy problem. After the decoupling of $\omega_\mu$, the scalar potential depends only on the remaining (angular variables) scalar fields, that can be the Higgs field, inflaton, etc. We show that successful inflation is then possible with one of these scalar fields identified as the inflaton. While our approach is derived in the Riemannian geometry with $\omega_\mu$ introduced to avoid ghosts, the natural framework is that of Weyl geometry which for the same matter spectrum is shown to generate the same Lagrangian, up to a total derivative.

Sequentially loop-generated quark and lepton mass hierarchies in an extended Inert Higgs Doublet model

Extended scalar and fermion sectors offer new opportunities for generating the observed strong hierarchies in the fermion mass and mixing patterns of the Standard Model (SM). In this work, we elaborate on the prospects of a particular extension of the Inert Higgs doublet model where the SM hierarchies are generated sequentially by radiative virtual corrections in a fully renormalisable way, i.e. without adding any non-renormalisable Yukawa terms or soft-breaking operators to the scalar potential. Our model has a potential to explain the recently observed RK and RK∗ anomalies, thanks to the non universal U1X assignments of the fermionic fields that yield non universal Z′ couplings to fermions. We explicitly demonstrate the power of this model for generating the realistic quark, lepton and neutrino mass spectra. In particular, we show that due to the presence of both continuous and discrete family symmetries in the considered framework, the top quark acquires a tree-level mass, lighter quarks and leptons get their masses at one- and two-loop order, while neutrino masses are generated at three-loop level. The minimal field content, particle spectra and scalar potential of this model are discussed in detail.

Thermal Transport in One-Dimensional Electronic Fluids

We study thermal conductivity for one-dimensional electronic fluids. The many-body Hilbert space is partitioned into bosonic and fermionic sectors that carry the thermal current in parallel. For times shorter than the bosonic umklapp time, the momenta of Bose and Fermi components are separately conserved, giving rise to the ballistic heat propagation and imaginary heat conductivity proportional to T/iω. The real part of thermal conductivity is controlled by decay processes of fermionic and bosonic excitations, leading to several regimes in frequency dependence. At lowest frequencies or longest length scales, the thermal transport is dominated by Lévy flights of low-momentum bosons that lead to a fractional scaling, ω^{-1/3} and L^{1/3}, of heat conductivity with the frequency ω and system size L, respectively.

Singlet-doublet fermion and triplet scalar dark matter with radiative neutrino masses

We present a detailed study of a combined singlet-doublet fermion and triplet scalar model for dark matter. These models have only been studied separately in the past. Together, they form a simple extension of the Standard Model that can account for dark matter and explain the existence of neutrino masses, which are generated radiatively. This holds even if singlet-doublet fermions and triplet scalars never contribute simultaneously to the dark matter abundance. However, this also implies the existence of lepton flavour violating processes. In addition, this particular model allows for gauge coupling unification. The new fields are odd under a new ℤ2 symmetry to stabilise the dark matter candidate. We analyse the dark matter, neutrino mass and lepton flavour violation aspects both separately and in conjunction, exploring the viable parameter space of the model. This is done using a numerical random scan imposing successively the neutrino mass and mixing, relic density, Higgs mass, direct detection, collider and lepton flavour violation constraints. We find that dark matter in this model is fermionic for masses below about 1 TeV and scalar above. The narrow mass regions found previously for the two separate models are enlarged by their coupling. While coannihilations of the weak isospin partners are sizeable, this is not the case for fermions and scalars despite their often similar masses due to the relatively small coupling of the two sectors, imposed by the small neutrino masses. We observe a high degree of complementarity between direct detection and lepton flavour violation experiments, which should soon allow to fully probe the fermionic dark matter sector and at least partially the scalar dark matter sector.

Classical Lagrangians for the nonminimal Standard-Model Extension at higher orders in Lorentz violation

The current paper is dedicated to determining perturbative expansions for Lagrangians describing classical, relativistic, pointlike particles subject to Lorentz violation parameterized by the nonminimal Standard-Model Extension (SME). An iterative technique recently developed and applied to a Lorentz-violating scalar field theory is now adopted to treat the spin-degenerate SME fermion sector. Lagrangians are obtained at third order in Lorentz violation for the operators aˆμ, cˆμ, eˆ, fˆ, and mˆ for arbitrary mass dimension. The results demonstrate the impact of nonzero spin on classical particle propagation. They will be useful for phenomenological studies of modified gravity and could provide valuable insights into explicit Lorentz violation in curved spacetimes.

Superfluid density reduction and spin-imbalanced pairing in a fermionic superfluid due to dynamical boson exchange

We explore novel features of a nonrelativistic fermionic superfluid in which the pairing interaction includes a contribution from the exchange of a dynamical bosonic mode. We show that the dynamical boson exchange (DBE), which causes a retarded pairing interaction and thus violates the Galilean invariance of the fermion sector, generically leads to a quantum reduction of the superfluid density and hence a nonzero normal fraction even at zero temperature. For spin-singlet pairing, the DBE also leads to a nonvanishing spin susceptibility at zero temperature, providing a mechanism for the coexistence of pairing and magnetization. While these effects are negligible for weak pairing, they become sizable at strong pairing. For the double superfluidity in ultracold Fermi-Bose mixtures, the superfluid density reduction for the fermion sector induced by the DBE just gives rise to the Andreev-Bashkin drag effect, indicating a strong entrainment between the two superfluid components. The DBE may also provide a new source for the superfluid fraction reduction of neutron matter, which is crucial for models of neutron star glitches based on neutron superfluidity.

Particle quantum states with indefinite mass and neutrino oscillations

In this work we develop a mathematical formalism which allows obtaining oscillation formula for neutrino of any energy. We demonstrate that in the ultra-relativistic limit the results obtained in this new approach agree with the previously used phenomenological theory which is only applicable to ultra-relativistic neutrinos. To this end we do the following. The Hilbert spaces of particle states are constructed in such a way that the neutrinos are combined in a multiplet with its components being considered as different quantum states of a single particle. The same is done for the charged leptons and the down- and up-type quarks. In the theory based on the Lagrangian of the fermion sector of the Standard Model modified in accordance with this construction, the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations arises as a direct consequence of the general principles of quantum field theory. Using the example of the pion decay, when the resulting neutrino has to be ultra-relativistic, it is shown that the neutrino states produced in the decay process can be described by a superposition of states with different masses and identical canonical momenta with very high accuracy.

A portalino to the dark sector

“Portal” models that connect the Standard Model to a Dark Sector allow for a wide variety of scenarios beyond the simplest WIMP models. Kinetic mixing of gauge fields in particular has allowed a broad range of new ideas. However, the models that evade CMB constraints are often non-generic, with new mass scales and operators to split states and suppress indirect detection signals. Models with a “portalino”, a neutral fermion that marries a linear combination of a standard model neutrino and dark sector fermion and carries a conserved quantum number, can be simpler. This is especially interesting for interacting dark sectors; then the unmarried linear combination which we identify as the standard model neutrino inherits these interactions too, and provides a new, effective interaction between the dark sector and the standard model. These interactions can be simple Z′ type interactions or lepton-flavor changing. Dark matter freezes out into neutrinos, thereby evading CMB constraints, and conventional direct detection signals are largely absent. The model offers different signals, however. The “portalino” mechanism itself predicts small corrections to the standard model neutrino couplings as well as the possibility of discovering the portalino particle in collider experiments. Possible cosmological and astroparticle signatures include monochromatic neutrino signals from annihilation, spectral features in high energy CR neutrinos as well as conventional signals of additional light species and dark matter interactions.

The mass ratios parametrization

The observed hierarchy in the fermion masses, which imply a set of small mass ratios, is not naturally small regarding ’t Hooft’s criteria. In this work, in a model independent approach, we introduce a set of conditions by which fermion mass ratios become natural. Interestingly, these conditions demand that fermion mixing should be described by the four independent mass ratios of each fermion sector. Application of this set of conditions to the standard theory enables one to understand the mains aspects in quark and lepton mixing. This feature can be taken as a strong evidence for the existence in Nature of a flavor symmetry. Also, for this analysis to work in the lepton sector, neutrino masses should have normal ordering with the lightest neutrino mass satisfying the lower bound, [Formula: see text], making the approach testable.